Wiser & Older
by SandM1827
Summary: Originally posted on A03. Alternate Universe - Human. Stiles and Derek haven't seen each other in seven years when Derek's father hires Stiles to be Derek's bodyguard.
1. The One You Believe In

Originally posted on AO3.

I'm told my grammar is shit (I don't doubt it, sorry) and that my spelling sucks (my spellcheck doesn't think so but I'm sure there are mistakes) so you don't need to inform me of it because I already know.

Not beta'd. Mistakes are mine.

There are two endings to this story. The first one is Chapter 20 - the original ending. The second one is Chapter 21 - the ending I gave because Chapter 20 didn't sit right with people. So, if you want the Original ending then Chapter 20 is for you. If you want fluffy puppies and kittens then Chapter 21 is the ending you want.

There is a SOA character that will appear but you don't have to know anything about Sons of Anarchy to read this fic.

Papa Hales name is David. Sheriff Stilinksi's name is John.

Alternate Universe - Human, Future Fic, Baseball Player Derek Hale, Detective Stiles Stilinski, Marriage, Angst, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Abuse, past mpreg, Stalker, Major Talia and Stiles Rivalry, Miscarriage

* * *

"No."

"But –"

"Stiles, the answer is no." The disgruntled man said more firmly this time. "You cannot come back to work until your doctor says so. Go home."

"Captain, I am fine." And he was. Sure he was still bruised and battered but his wounds were mostly healed over now. "I am perfectly capable of returning to work."

"Your doctor doesn't think so. Now, get out of my office and do not come back until you are medically cleared for duty."

"Sir –"

"Get out!"

It was safe to say that Stiles skedaddled out pretty quickly after that. He only wanted to get back to work, he didn't want to get fired. He also didn't want to get on his bosses bad side. He'd leave, begrudgingly, and go home and sit on his thumbs until his doctor said he could go back to work. It sucked but that's the way it had to be.

* * *

The house he owned wasn't far from the precinct. It was a nice two-story house with three bedrooms. It was a bit much for one person, but considering Scott and his father had spent the last month staying with him while he recovered he was glad he had the extra space. The three of them would've driven each other mad if they'd been stuffed in the apartment Stiles had when he lived in Berkeley.

Los Angeles hadn't been a step up from Berkeley or from Beacon Hills. It was just somewhere different. It allowed him to get away from everyone while still being able to go home once in a while. Though, in all honesty, he didn't need to get away from them. it was just easier for them to be away from him. When he'd left Berkeley he'd been in a bad place and in no way fit to be around his family or friends without ruining them.

When he left Beacon Hills to attend Berkeley he'd always intended to go home. He was going to work for the Sheriffs apartment with his dad and have a beer with Scott every weekend. He and his dad would meet up with the McCall's for Sunday brunch and he'd be there when Scott announced he and Allison's engagement to their parents.

As it was, it's been years since he was back in Beacon Hills for more than a small holiday here and there. He'd never leave the confines of his dad's house if he could help it either. Beacon Hills had become a place he feared. It made him anxious and uncomfortable and he hated that his home now felt like a prison.

Los Angeles has never been home and it probably never would be. Berkeley was close. It became a home away from home until bad memories destroyed it. Beacon Hills would always be home. It was where he was born and where he was raised. And it was where he had intended to be buried when the time came.

* * *

Stiles was still seething that night over his bosses decision to keep him from his work. He may or may not have left an angry voicemail at his doctors office when he got home. His father would probably cuff him on the back of head if he knew about that.

He was debating whether he should cook or order in when there was a knock at the door. It wasn't odd to have visitors. His buddies from the precinct had all come around a handful of times since he'd been released from the hospital. Still, after the scene he made at work today he assumed people would just let him be. The person at his door, however, was not a coworker. He wasn't the last person Stiles expected to see but he was still in the running.

"Davi – uh Mr. – um…" Stiles stumbled over how to actually say the man's proper name. He had no idea how you were supposed to politely greet someone you hadn't seen in so long. "Dr. Hale."

"I've known you since before you could walk, Stiles. You can call me David." The older man sent him a soft smile that on any other Hale would look phony. "May I come in?"

"Sure." Stiles opened the door wider to accommodate him. "How did you get my address?"

"Isaac." And if that wasn't odd he didn't know what was because he had never given Isaac his address. He hadn't even seen Isaac since college. "He found it in Scott's phone."

"You must have really wanted to find me." Stiles grumbled under his breath as they entered the kitchen. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?"

"Yes, please."

The thing was Stiles actually liked David Hale. Stiles had spent a lot of time at the Hale house growing up. They'd been like another family to him and that's exactly what he'd needed when his mom died. However their love for him had changed during his sophomore year of college and instead of having another family he'd had a handful of enemies. David had been one of the few who hadn't treated Stiles like the dirt under his shoe since.

"So, I don't mean to be rude or anything," He started as he sat down across from the older man after handing him his coffee. "But what are you doing here?"

"I heard that you were on leave from work and I know how bored you can become." Which, yes, is true. Stiles may have grown out of his ADD but he still got restless easily. "I wanted to ask you for a favor."

"Okay…" There was a feeling of dread that came over him as he watched David pull a handful of letters out of the laptop bag he'd brought in with him.

"Derek's been receiving these for the last few months." The older man didn't move to hand the letters over but instead looked at Stiles with fear in his eyes. "He's being stalked."

"He's been the most popular second basemen for the Dodgers for the last eight years," Stiles knew Derek's stats, not that he kept track, but some of the guys on the force were big Dodgers fans. It was Los Angeles after all. "That's bound to earn him some unwanted attention. Did you want to speak to someone at the LAPD? Maybe speak to someone about a restraining order?"

"We can't get a restraining order when we don't know who the letters are from." David sounded frustrated and at his wit's end, something Stiles had rarely ever seen out of the calm and collected man. "And we've already spoken to the police about it. I'm actually here because Derek's agreed to let us hire a bodyguard to look after him."

"I can recommend a few guys." There were a lot of police officers that had alimony and child support payments to make, and their paychecks just didn't cut it. "You're obviously going to want to run your own background checks and everything –"

"No, I don't want a recommendation." That put Stiles at a loss because he had no idea what he was supposed to be helping with. "We had a criminal profiler look at the letters and they think that if Derek is seen with a bodyguard it'll only spur the stalker on. If they see Derek taking extra precautions then they'll know they've gotten to him and they'll be more inclined to use force against him."

"You just said you wanted a bodyguard, but now you're telling me that a bodyguard is a bad idea?" Well, David wasn't the first Hale to confuse the hell out of Stiles. "What is it, exactly, that you want from me, Dr. Hale?"

"It's David." The graying man corrected him. "Being seen with a bodyguard may seem like Derek is pushing back against the threatening letters. Being seen out in public with you may seem like he is reuniting with his estranged husband."

Stiles was speechless to say the least, and that wasn't an easy feat. Never in a million years could he ever imagine this would be the favor that a Hale would ask him for. It didn't make sense. Being seen out with Stiles may make the stalker jealous or angry. It wasn't any different from hiring a bodyguard.

"So, let me get this straight," Stiles tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone as he focused his attention on David. "You want me to be seen out in public with Derek so his stalker thinks we're still married? You think that's what's going to get them to back off?"

"No. And you are still married." Alright he would give him that, he and Derek were still married. Not that Stiles hadn't sent divorce papers because he had, multiple times. "I want to hire you as his bodyguard. In public it will have to seem as though you're reconciling so that stalker doesn't suspect he hired a bodyguard. If the stalker makes a move you'll be there to protect Derek."

"That makes me feel like I'm bait." And, in that situation, he kind of was. He would be used to lure in the stalker and take the stalker down at the same time. "You realize the public will never buy it? Derek and I haven't seen each other in seven years and we haven't spoken in five. I doubt the public will accept his husband magically reappearing in his life without getting the least bit suspicious."

"Stiles, I know you want to say no, but I need you to do this." There was a desperation in David's voice that put Stiles stomach in knots. "I need someone I can trust to protect my son."

"I have no idea why you would trust me to do that." Stiles would protect Derek with his dying breath but there is no way that David could know that.

"I won't delude myself into thinking I know why the two of you got married so young. I couldn't begin to understand why you two split up so suddenly. I don't know what happened between the two of you. The one thing I know, about you and my son, is that you would protect each other no matter what."

"I'll do it." He couldn't completely understand why he was agreeing but fuck if he was going to think about it now. "On one condition."

"Which is?" The look in David's eye told him he already had a good idea about what Stiles wanted.

"The divorce."

"You want me to get Derek to sign the divorce papers?" Stiles had been sending them for the last four years. They were always returned sans Derek's signature.

"I want you to keep your wife from whispering in Derek's ear about it. She's the one who keeps him from signing them. She thinks it'll ruin the good ol boy image he's got in the media. Though I'm sure the parade of girlfriends does that just fine." He didn't understand why his mother-in-law thought staying married to Stiles would help Derek's career but she did. "I don't want you to get Derek to sign them. I want you to let him make his own decision about it."

"That right there is exactly why I trust you." David smiled brightly at him. "It's a deal."

"I think I'll go with a blue tie." Stiles voiced as David pulled a set of keys and a cellphone out of the laptop bag.

"You don't have to wear any special attire. I understand sometimes security personnel where uniforms but there won't be a dress code for you." Stiles hadn't actually been concerned about a dress code.

"I meant that I'll wear a blue tie to your funeral. I know it's your favorite color." The confused look just got deeper before Stiles continued. "You and I both know that Talia is going to kill you for going behind her back and hiring me."

"You let me handle Talia." There wasn't even a hint of confidence in David's voice as he said it and Stiles could almost laugh. "Here is a set of keys and the address to Derek's house. He has a spare room which he agreed to let a bodyguard stay in so he'll have around the clock protection. Laura and Lydia will be informed tomorrow and they can meet with you at his house and you all can discuss his schedule."

"Wait a minute," Stiles slammed a hand down on the table in annoyance. "I can't watch him twenty-four hours a day. I'm going to need a break at some point. There are going to be times when I have to run errands that he can't accompany me on."

"I understand that. If you could keep your errand running to times when he is in the house I could agree to you hiring someone you feel is capable of looking after Derek." That made Stiles feel a bit better. He didn't like the idea of living with Derek for an undetermined amount of time but he'd deal. "I'll pay you of course and if there is something you'll need to help aid in making sure my son is more secure than feel free to use his credit card."

"This is going to end horribly." Stiles sighed as he grabbed the house keys and cellphone. "I hope you know that."

"That phone has a GPS tracker for Derek's, so if he happens to slip away from you or whatever you'll know where he is. I'd appreciate if you'd only use it for work." Stiles nodded along. "You can call me if you need anything, my numbers in the phone. And, yes, I'm aware that this can end badly for all parties involved but I have faith that it won't. I know you'll need time to get your things in order but are you able to start tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, I'll head over there bright and early." He'd just have to pack a few things and take an Ambien to sleep through the night. "Does Derek know I'm the one you're hiring?"

"No."

"Awesome."

* * *

It wasn't even six a.m. when Stiles got on the road to Derek's house. Derek lived across town at a house that apparently had its own private beach, according to David Hale. Stiles had never been there. When he left Derek they'd still been living in a shitty one bedroom in San Francisco.

"Call Dad," Stiles hated talking to his cellphone, half the time it never got the words he said correctly, but hands free was the safest way to use his phone while driving.

_The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep._

"Hey Pops, so I just wanted to call and check in and see how things are." Stiles hated talking to his Dads answering machine but it's not like he had much of a choice. "Give me a call when you get off work. Oh, and if you can get Melissa to make sure David Hale is showing up at work that'd be great. If he's not there for more than a few days it's because Talia Hale buried him in their backyard. If you don't hear from me for a few days it's because she's had me fitted for cement shoes and I'm at the bottom of the ocean. Okay, I love you. Bye."

* * *

The first thing Stiles noticed when he pulled into the driveway of Derek's house was that there was no security system. For a famed baseball player with such a posh house there should at the very least be a fake sign in the lawn that claimed there was a security system. What was worse was the fact that Stiles didn't even need the key David gave him to open the door because it hadn't been locked.

The next thing Stiles notices are men and women's clothing strewn about the entryway leading up the steps to where Stiles assume Derek's bedroom was. Not really a surprise, but an annoyance nonetheless and one more thing Stiles will have to talk to Derek about. He pulls wallets out of a female's purse and the back of Derek's jeans before heading into the kitchen.

The kitchen Stiles wants to make love to. Stainless steel everything with an island right in the middle. Pots and pans were neatly arranged and obviously never used. The coffee maker was something Stiles could actually use and not an expensive one with a thousand buttons that Stiles assumed Derek would have. He's sure there's one stashed away here somewhere, if only for when Laura or Lydia came to visit.

He boots up his laptop at the kitchen counter while the coffee brews. He uses Derek's credit card to order a security system from a place that's run by a friend of his. David Hale wanted Derek safe and the first order of business would be to make sure no unwanted guests could get in without permission. The first unwanted guest happened to be stumbling down the stairs looking blindly for her clothes.

"Carly Ratchet," Stiles read from the driver's license and continued on with her address as she looked at him in shock. "I thought you should know that I had this information, before you think about taking something or perhaps telling the paparazzi the famous Derek Hale's address or if you thought about coming back. I'm not accusing you of anything. I just want to make sure you know that I now have your address, so that if anything like that were to happen I can turn in that information to the LAPD."

"What?" The woman looked absolutely shell-shocked and Stiles couldn't help but smile as he handed over her wallet.

"You may leave now."

It's another half hour, the sound of a shower running, and two cups of coffee later that Derek finally makes his way into the kitchen. He's still bleary-eyed and not fully awake if the way he's stumbling around says anything. Stiles resisted the urge to laugh at the way he rubs his eyes like a toddler waking up from their midday nap.

"I made coffee." He offers in way of greeting, hoping to garner a reaction but receiving none.

"Thanks." Derek says through a yawn already making his way toward the pot.

It's almost comical the way Derek sits down beside him with his fresh cup of caffeine. He picks up the newspaper sitting idly on the island and begins skimming the front page. Stiles just stares at him with the biggest smile on his face because it's clear Derek has no idea who's in his house. He might as well be the coffee fairy.

The way Derek sat the newspaper back down was enough for Stiles to know that Derek's brains had finally connected the dots between coffee and a mysterious male voice in the kitchen. Derek's head turned toward Stiles slowly as if he was expecting his stalker to be sitting there beside him. The look of surprise and recognition followed by a lost puppy dog look on his face made Stiles want to pat him on the head.

"I was thinking orchids." Stiles nods to himself while not taking his eyes off Derek. "Colorful ones not white or that pale pink color."

"Pardon?"

"Well, your mother is going to murder your father, if she hasn't already. You, as his son, should have a hand in the funeral arraignments. I thought you could pick the flowers. Purple orchids would suit your father nicely." He offered before continuing. "My body will probably never be found but you should send my dad a basket of red mokara orchids."

"You're my new bodyguard." No one ever excused Derek of being stupid. "My father hired you to be my new bodyguard."

"Yes he did. He was supposed to call me this morning to let me know when to expect Lydia and Laura but I haven't heard from him." Granted it wasn't even eight a.m. yet but really. "You should probably call him and make sure he's still breathing."

"I should call him." Stiles had never seen his husband snatch up a phone so quick in his life.

It was either going to be a really good day, Stiles thought to himself, or a really horrific one depending on how Derek's phone call went.


	2. Trying to Figure Out this Life

"Rule #1," Stiles started as soon as Derek re-entered the room, apparently satisfied that his father was still alive and well. "No more bringing one night stands to your house. If that Carly girl I ran out of here earlier was actually your girlfriend and not a one-off then…oops."

"Who's Carly?" Derek looked genuinely confused by the name. "Does my bringing strange people home upset you? If it does I'd like to remind you that you left me."

"You're a famous baseball player, idiot. You do not bring someone you don't know back to the place where you sleep and where your personal belongings are on display." Stiles didn't even dignify the jealousy comment with a response. "You don't bring them back here because they can murder or steal from you. You don't go back to their place because they can accuse you of the same things. Take them to a hotel. Not somewhere nice enough where they'll want to take home the robes, but not somewhere so cheap that they're afraid they'll be mugged or raped on their way out the door."

"Jesus Christ, Stiles." He sounded outraged but he looked more embarrassed than anything else.

"Considering your stalker has your home address I'm willing to bet she or he has been here before." If they hadn't been Stiles would be very surprised. "It might even be someone you've worked with or someone who works for you. I'm going to need a list of everyone who's worked for or with you, both past and present."

"I thought you were supposed to be protecting me not investigating." His tone wasn't a mocking one but it irritated Stiles nonetheless. "What's up with that anyway? I thought you were a big shot detective now, why are you babysitting me?"

"I'm on leave." He'd assumed David had told Derek that but he was almost thankful neither of them was aware of the complete details. "Let's start with the people who work for you. I need a list of everyone on your payroll."

"You make it sound like I'm in the mafia." Derek grumbled before rooting around it what looked like a junk drawer and pulling out a piece of paper. "That's everyone who I employ and how much they make a month. I doubt any of the names on that list will lead you to my stalker."

"What'd you do hire everyone in your high school social circle to work for you so you wouldn't have to meet anyone new?" Stiles asked as he looked at the names on list. "Laura's still your manager. Lydia is still handles your PR. How you convinced a mathematician to work your PR I have no clue."

"She was still finishing up her degree at the time and she was bored. She continues to do it because I'm an easy client and I don't get in the way of her teaching." Lydia actual profession was teaching Astrophysics at Stanford.

"Jackson Whittemore is your attorney. I can't really say I'm surprised." A little surprised, maybe, because he was sure Talia Hale was the Hale family attorney but he also knew she was busy working as the District Attorney back home.

"Is that…character growth?" Derek's eyes were wide and filled with mirth as he looked at Stiles. "I think that is the first time I've ever heard you call him Jackson Whittemore and not Jackass Douchemore."

"Shut up." That's all Stiles had to say on that subject. "You hired Erica to be your stylist? Derek, you're a baseball player, why do you need a stylist?"

"There are events that I have to attend a few times a year that I can't wear jeans and a Henley to."

"So why don't you just pay her per event rather than give her a salary once a month?" Apparently Derek wasn't going to respond to that if the way he clicked his jaw shut meant anything. "Okay, it says here that Isaac is your personal assistant? If that's true than why is your dad sending your sister and Lydia to go over your schedule with me, shouldn't Lahey be the one to do that?"

"He's not really my assistant anymore. It was more of a summer job that I gave him while he was debating about whether he wanted to go to grad school." It was kind of sweet how Derek had given all his old friends jobs, though it was costing him a shit load of money.

"So this is wrong then?" He gestured to the list in his hands. "He isn't employed by you, you don't pay him?"

"No, he technically is still employed by me. He just doesn't actively work for me anymore." Stiles looked up from paper to Derek in disbelief.

"Okay, Lydia, Jackson and Laura I can understand you paying monthly salaries to." They were active participants in Derek's career and they deserved to be paid accordingly. "But you are shelling out thousands of dollars to Erica for picking out a few outfits for you a year and to Isaac for doing nothing."

"You're my bodyguard not my accountant." Color Stiles surprised that his husband actually had someone handling his money.

"You have an accountant?" Derek waved his hand at the list. "Boyd. Of course, I should have guessed."

"What's wrong with Boyd?" Derek actually sounded mildly offended on Boyd's behalf.

"Nothing is wrong with Boyd as long as he's actually doing his job." And really, it wasn't Stiles place to go over Derek's finances. "Aside from the crap with Erica and Isaac, does he actually do what an accountant is supposed to do?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

He had to agree with Derek that no one he had on staff would be actively stalking him. Erica, Boyd, Laura and Isaac all lived in Beacon Hills; they only came down when they were needed. Jackson lived in LA, probably in a nicer house than Derek's judging by the salary he was getting. Lydia lived in Palo Alto and could usually do Derek's PR over the phone or internet and according to Allison she made frequent trips back to Beacon Hills as well.

"I went ahead and ordered you a security system." He watched Derek's eyebrows scale his forehead. "Do we need to go over the _you're famous _thing again?"

"No." The other man grumbled before sipping his coffee.

"Okay, well Juice should be here soon to install it."

"The person installing my home security system is named _Juice_?" The skepticism in his voice was hard to miss.

"His given name is Juan Carlos." Stiles corrected. "His friends call him Juice."

"So you're his friend?"

"Surprisingly enough I do have friends outside of Scott." Not many, but there were some. "Yes, Juice is a friend. A good friend. So don't be an asshole."

"A sex friend?" Not exactly the question Stiles expected Derek to ask.

"I'm not even going to respond to that."

"That's not a _no_." Derek points out with a smirk on his face and only a hint of jealousy.

"It's a not a _yes_ either."

* * *

By the time Juice showed up Derek had moved to into the living room after eating breakfast and Stiles was still sitting at the kitchen island going over a list of people Derek associated with. The knock at the door had Stiles up and on his feet in no time but when he got to the door Derek had already answered it and was looking at the man on the other side like he was from another planet.

"I think you have the wrong house." Derek said cautiously.

"This was the address I was given."

"He's supposed to be here." Stiles shouldered Derek out-of-the-way to greet Juice with a hug. "Thanks for coming on short notice."

"No problem, I didn't have any appointments scheduled for today anyway." He smiled brightly before extending his hand to Derek. "I'm Juan Carlos, but usually people call me Juice."

"Derek Hale." If Derek used a little more force in his handshake he probably didn't think Stiles would notice, but he did, luckily Juice spent enough time with people who were ten times scarier than Derek to be bothered by it.

"Nice house, I can see why you'd want a system installed." Juice acknowledged as they led him toward the kitchen. "What kind of system were you thinking? You want something like I put in at Stiles' house or something a little more high-tech?"

"He's going to need the works." Stiles interjected before Derek could get a word in edgewise. "I want motion censored cameras outside and surrounding the property. I want alarms on all the doors leading in and out of the house and all the windows as well. You have that app thing right, where I can lock the door or whatever from my phone if I forget and keep an eye on security cameras?"

"Yeah, I can do that." The biker nodded along and looked toward Derek "Is that okay with you?"

"Do I have a choice in the matter?" The annoyance in Derek's voice wasn't hard to spot.

"No you do not." Stiles answered for him earning a quick laugh from Juice. "Think you can get it done today? I'll make you lunch and dinner while you're here if you say yes."

"You'll make me lunch and dinner and I'll try to have it all done today." Juice countered while rolling up his sleeves and inadvertently. "There's paperwork you'll have to sign, Mr. Hale."

"In a minute. Stiles, can I talk to you in the other room for a second?" Derek asked while grabbing his arm, not giving him any choice in the matter.

"What's the problem?"

"The Sons of Anarchy? Really, Stiles?" Derek growled after he slammed his office door shut so Juice couldn't hear the conversation. "You didn't think I would know what the reaper tattooed on his forearm meant? My moms a District Attorney, she's dealt with his type before"

"He's reformed. They all are." Stiles had personally seen to it when the group had relocated. "They had to move from Charming so they could start over. They're mechanics and motorcycle enthusiasts. It's not like they run guns or help a cartel with drug smuggling anymore."

_"Anymore?"_

"They don't even wear cuts anymore. It's been years since they've done anything nefarious." It honestly didn't matter what Derek thought of them, they were Stiles friends.

"For fuck's sake Stiles, you're a cop and your dad is a county Sheriff, how the hell do you even meet these people?" The outrage in Derek's voice held the barest hint of worry.

"I'm a cop and my dad's a country sheriff, how do you think I met them?" It was a lie. He didn't meet the club thru work but he sure as hell wasn't going to have that discussion with Derek right now.

"I don't think hiring a criminal to install my security system is what my father meant by making sure I was safe."

"He is an ex-con, yes, but he also is a tech specialist, okay? I get that you don't trust him, but I do. I'm not going to ask you to trust him. I'm asking you to trust me." And that was the question, wasn't it? Just because David trusted him it didn't mean Derek would. "Do you trust me?"

"To keep me safe?" Stiles wanted to say no. He wanted to ask Derek if he trusted him with more than his safety, but he knew what Derek's answer would be and he just couldn't hear it right now. "Yeah, I trust you to keep me safe."

"Okay, then let Juice do his job."

They walked back to the kitchen in heavy silence. Juice seemed to be busying himself getting the things he needed ready for the installation while Stiles and Derek had their talk. Stiles sat back down behind his computer, trying to keep himself out of the way while Derek leaned against counter with his arms crossed over his chest watching Juice like a hawk.

"How did you meet my husband?" Derek asked as Juice bent down to retrieve something out of his tool box.

"Your husband?" Juice's confused puppy look could rival both Derek's and Scotts.

"Derek, didn't you and I just go over this?" Stiles grumbled under his breath.

"How did you meet Stiles?" Derek repeated while obviously choosing to ignore him completely.

"Holy crap," Juice shot upright and looked from Derek and Stiles then back again. "You're Miguel."

"What?" Oh look, Derek's eyebrows were trying to take a trip upstairs.

"Oh my god." Stiles hit his head against the table in frustration and embarrassment.

"Who the hell is Miguel?" Derek seemed to remember Stiles was in the room if the scowl directed at him meant anything.

"I couldn't exactly tell people I was married to Derek Hale, could I?" It was easier to make a name up then tell them that he'd married a famous baseball player. "They'd never believe me if I told the truth."

"Miguel, seriously?" Only Derek would have a problem with a fake name.

"You do kind of look like a Miguel." Juice offered with a small smile that earned him a glare in return.

"You didn't answer my first question." Derek said. "How did you meet Stiles?"

"None of your business." Juice replied nonchalantly. "I still need you to fill out that paperwork."

"Why is how the two of you met a secret?" Derek directed that question at Stiles rather than Juice.

"It's not a secret. It's just not something I want to get into right now." He wasn't about to lay his and Juice's bullshit both on the table for Derek to judge. "Juice, how's your hubby doing?"

"Chibs is great." After Fiona had finally given Chibs his divorce he and Juice had tied the knot. "Since Kerrianne moved out here for college he's been happier than I've seen him in a long time."

"Well I'm glad things worked out there." Chibs' daughter had grown up without him in Belfast and they'd only recently gotten their relationship back on the track.

"Oh, Gemma says she's pissed that you didn't come to dinner last Sunday. She said you could have invited, and I quote, the sexy Sheriff and the cute puppy." Juice smirked when Stiles pulled a face at Gemma's nicknames for his dad and Scott. "You're expected for dinner this weekend."

"Can't make it, dude, I am on twenty-four hour security here." And now it was time for Juice's eyebrows to shoot up his forehead. "Actually, David said if I have to run an errand I can hire someone else to look after Derek. You think one of the guys will do it? I don't know how long I'll be here. Maybe you guys can rotate some shifts?"

"Tigs getting bored so he'd probably do it, or I can, maybe even Chibs." Stiles could see the worry clear in Juices eyes as he glanced at Derek and then Stiles again. "You gonna go to a meeting soon?"

"Yeah, I'll probably need one. You coming with me?" He didn't go to meetings often, he didn't really need them anymore, but when he did he usually had Juice go with him.

"Sure." The Puerto Rican nodded in agreement.

"If you two are done chitchatting," Derek practically growled as he placed himself between them. "You said I had paperwork to do."

"Yeah, sorry." Juice handed him a clipboard and pen. "You should probably start thinking of an alarm code as well. One that only you'll know."

"I already have one in mind."

"Try to stay away from birth dates and anniversaries. Anything the general public can easily get their hands on." Stiles supplied knowing that those were the easiest ones to guess. "It should be something easy for you to remember but something no one who knows you would think of."

"I got it, Stiles." The angry slam of Derek's hand against the countertop made both Juice and Stiles flinch.

"So, I'll leave you to that and Stiles to whatever he's doing. I'm gonna go grab some stuff out of my van." Juice made a hasty exit clearly not wanting to be in the middle of that argument that was sure to take place.

"What's the matter?" Stiles asked as he watched Derek stare at Juices retreating form. "Nothing's ever happened between Juice and I if that's what's got you upset."

"I don't like when you keep secrets from me." He replied quietly, almost too quiet for Stiles to hear. "You won't tell me how you met and I've never heard you talk about him before."

"I didn't meet him until after we stopped speaking."

"Don't you mean after you changed your phone number?"

"What was I supposed to do? For two years after I left all we did was exchange drunken voicemails." Rarely if ever did they have an actual phone conversation and when they did the words exchanged were anything but nice. "I couldn't keep doing that. It was hurting us both."

"So you decided cutting off all contact was what was best." It wasn't a question because the both knew it was what had to happen.

"It was what was best. At the time it's what we both needed." He stood up from his chair to stand beside his husband, placing a reassuring hand between his shoulder blades. "Can you honestly say that either of us could have moved on if we kept on like we were?"

"No."

There was a reason they got along so well now. There was a reason why there were no bitter words exchanged when Derek found Stiles in his house. There was no hate between them, just calm understanding. They both knew why Stiles had left. They may have hated each other for it for a little while but time had healed that wound. They understood that it had to be the way it was.

"I've missed you." Stiles whispered.


	3. Tell You My Hell

Stiles wasn't sure how to react to Laura when she and Lydia finally made it to Derek's house. She'd been his older sister growing up. She'd protected him from bullies before he learned how to protect himself and helped him with his homework when he needed it. She was also one of the Hales that had decided Stiles wasn't good enough for Derek after they'd announced that they had eloped.

Stiles tried not to hold anything against most members of the Hale family. He'd always known they were a tight knit group and that they'd stand together against the enemy. Any enemy. Stiles had no god damn clue why he became their enemy. He remembered Laura and Cora used to call him 'bro' like they'd do with Derek. He could remember being a little kid and climbing on Peters lap to beg the older man to read him a story. He could remember when David and Talia would call him son and let him curl up in bed with them if he'd had a bad dream while staying over at their house. He remembered when it all changed. He just could never get an answer as to why.

* * *

Derek tended to watch Stiles a lot. He always had. Even when they were kids. Stiles had been loud and boisterous, always itching to learn something new. The preserve had been the perfect place for him to find adventures and Derek and Scott would follow him without hesitation. There'd always been a smile on his face, even when his world was falling apart.

When Stiles had shown up at his house it was with a bright smile with only a hint of sadness. Derek had expected to see a little anger, some bitterness, but no, his husband looked at Derek like he had in high school. It'd made his heart hurt and long for the days when they were well and truly together. They'd only shared the same space for a few hours and yet it seemed so easy to fall back into their old rhythm.

When Stiles' friend had shown up Derek was willing to admit that he'd been jealous and a little put off by their exchange. Growing up they'd always had the same social circle. Stiles had Derek and Scott. With Scott eventually came Allison who'd brought along Lydia and Jackson and sometimes Danny. Derek had found friendship in Isaac, Erica and Boyd and they'd joined into their circle. Derek's cousin Malia, and younger sister Cora could always be found not far from their group as well. Stiles had never really made any friends outside of Derek and Scott, though. He'd had Heather, a friend he'd grown up with but they hadn't exactly been close. He'd been heartbroken when she'd passed away while they were in high school but he hadn't been completely devastated like he would've been had he lost Scott.

Derek knew that not a lot of people really took to Stiles easily. Scott and Derek had known him since they'd been toddlers so they'd grown use to his eccentricities. The other people in their social group, however, didn't have years to grow use to Stiles. None of them had the patience to let Stiles talk them into circles or listen to him veer from one topic to another in the blink of an eye. Most of their friends tended to ignore Stiles or put up with him if only for the sake of Derek and Scott.

Erica always held resentment toward him because he'd never acknowledged her crush on him. She also tended to be protective of her friends and loved to let her vindictive side shine through. She'd cornered Stiles in the parking lot and hit him with a part from his jeep for hooking up with Malia when he and Derek had broken up once in high school. It hadn't mattered to her that Derek had been dating Paige for over a month before Stiles had connected with Malia.

Isaac dealt with Stiles because he'd had a bit of a hard-on for Scott in high school. He'd been Derek's friend first but once he'd been introduced to Scott he'd lost most interest in Derek and spent more of his time with Stiles BFF. Before Isaac had realized how awesome Stiles brother could be he tended to take Erica's lead on things, which usually happened to be shoving Stiles into whatever locker was closest at the time. Derek knew Scott had talked to the curly haired boy at one point during senior year about it because he'd stopped bullying Stiles and started ignoring him instead.

Boyd and Danny never seemed to care about Stiles one way or another. Stiles had worked with them on homework assignments if they'd been paired or played with them on the lacrosse field but none of them ever really connected. Jackson had been an utter douchebag to anyone but Danny throughout their school years but Derek knew that had tapered off somewhere in college. Lydia and Stiles held a grudging acceptance toward each other because they were both borderline geniuses. Lydia never really gave Stiles the time of day until Allison had come into the picture.

Allison had been the exception. When Allison had started dating Scott Stiles had come to Derek and told him he knew he was probably going to lose his best friend to a girl and the popular crowd. That didn't really happen, though. Allison had seen how close Stiles was with Scott and formed an instant friendship with him. If there was anyone besides Scott and Derek that Stiles could truly call a friend it was Allison.

So, yeah, seeing Stiles with someone who hadn't been part of the social circle growing up was odd. He hated the easy companionship Juice shared with his husband. It was clear they were close, not as close as Stiles was to Scott, but close enough to share secrets. Derek had known everything about Stiles from the time they could crawl until Stiles left him. Seeing Stiles with Juice just reminded him there was a whole seven years that Derek didn't know about.

Seven years had changed them both, he knew that. Before they'd separated Stiles had seemed to be in a constant state of agitation. He would alternate between being angry and shutting down completely. Derek hadn't been any better at the time, but it was different now. Stiles held his head a bit higher now. The stress that he still held in his shoulders didn't seem to weigh him down the way it had before. He smiled a little brighter and he laughed a little louder and Derek had missed that laugh. It made Derek want to know what had happened. It also made him hate Laura a bit for ruining it.

The minute Laura and Lydia walked through the door Derek saw the immediate change in his husband. The soft grin he'd been directing at Derek had been replaced by something tense. He hunched in on himself as if he was trying to make himself as small and unassuming as possible in the face of Derek's sister. It was a confusing sight because the Stiles Derek knew had never backed down to anyone. Of course, Laura wasn't just anyone.

When his mother had turned on Stiles the first person to stand by her side was Laura. Derek never understood it and he knew Stiles hadn't either. The look on Laura's face that night showed even she didn't understand why their mother was acting the way she was, but Laura would always take Talia's side no matter what. It was just the way their family worked. He could remember the shocked look on Cora's face, how she'd remained speechless throughout the ordeal. Even his father looked at his mother like she'd gone a little insane. Laura, though, Laura had stood beside their mother and had _agreed_ with her.

Stiles would fight to the death for his friends and his family. He'd fight for a cause that he believed in. But when it came to Derek's family, neither of them was sure what the hell had happened. They could never figure out why Talia had reacted the way she did that day. And you couldn't fight something when you had no idea what you were up against.

In the end Derek watched Stiles become resigned in the face of his family. He'd kept his distance if he could. He wouldn't rise to the bait if one of them challenged him. Derek hated the way Stiles would detach himself when in their presence. He hated that it was exactly what Stiles was doing now. He hated that Laura was looking at Stiles like nothing had ever happened.

"Oh my god! Look at you!" She fucking squealed like she was greeting a child.

"Hi." Stiles offered a tight smile that was nothing like the ones he'd given Derek earlier.

"Give me a hug." Laura really didn't give his husband a chance to respond before she'd pulled him into one. She was obviously going to ignore the way he flinched the moment she touched him and the way he didn't hug her back.

"Let him go, Laura." Derek ordered as he forcefully pulled Stiles away. "You're here to go over my schedule not catch up."

"But we have so much to catch up on." She pouted at him.

"We really don't." Stiles corrected quickly. "Do you guys want a cup of coffee or something before we start on Derek's schedule?"

"Yes, thank you Stiles." Lydia accepted a cup before taking a seat at the kitchen table. "You look better than Scott described."

"How did Scott say I looked?" Stiles questioned as he handed Laura a cup of coffee as well.

"Like you'd been run over by a car. Twice." Derek made quick work of trying to spot any injury on his husband without looking like that's what he was actually doing. "Do you know when they're going to let you go back to work?"

"My doctor's being an asshole about it." Stiles complained as he took his own seat. "And my boss won't let me come back to work unless my doctor approves."

"Well duh, they don't want to get sued."

"You know the entire town knew something had happened to you when your Dad and Scott both took off in the middle of the night." Laura commented. "Nobody knows what actually happened though."

"I got hurt on the job." Derek knew the tone of Stiles voice meant he wasn't going to say anything else about. It was just one more secret he would keep. "So, what's on Derek's schedule that I need to worry about?"

"There's not a lot honestly." Lydia helpfully handed over a list of dates and times. "It's November so he doesn't have any games. There are a few charity events he has to attend. He's got a commercial to film for Wheaties cereal next week. He also has a photo shoot for Under Armour – "

"And underwear photo shoot?" Stiles seemed to perk up instantly at the prospect of that.

"Maybe." He threw his husband a teasing smile and watched as he drew a star beside that date and time of the shoot.

"If you wanna see him in his underwear so bad I'm sure all you have to do is ask." Lydia smirked between them.

"Oh my god, please don't." Laura protested. "Not while I'm here."

"Then leave." The words flew out of Derek's mouth before he had a chance to stop them. He really didn't need his sister and Lydia to know how badly he wanted to be stripped down with his husband.

"We're getting off topic and yes I know I started it." Stiles put his hands up in surrender. "Are the phone numbers on this list the ones I call to contact the security for this stuff?"

"Yeah, they'll patch you through to the people you'll need to speak to." Lydia replied. "You know we could have just emailed you this stuff."

"Then why didn't you?" If they didn't need to be in his house then he didn't understand why they were.

"Moms giving Dad the silent treatment. I needed a break from the tension." Laura admitted with a sad look on her face. "She is seriously pissed that he hired Stiles."

"Not my problem." Derek had spent a lot of time dealing with his mother's anger after he married Stiles. He wasn't going to deal with it now to. "I'm glad he hired Stiles."

"Mom will be utterly thrilled to hear that." He really didn't need to hear his sisters sarcastic and bitter tone now, especially since it usually was followed by a lecture. "Do not do this, Derek."

"I'm going to go…away and let you two talk." Stiles bolted out of the kitchen before Derek could stop him and Lydia followed quickly behind him.

"Laura – "

"He left you, Derek." He knew she was being protective, but she had no idea what had gone on between he and Stiles. "He broke your heart and he's not here a couple of hours and your ready to let him do it again?"

"It's none of your business what I allow Stiles to do. You have no right to judge what happened between Stiles and I or what will happen to between us because you don't know…" He swallowed the lump that had settled in his throat before continuing. "You don't know what we went through."

"Then tell me." He wanted to, he honestly did. He wanted to tell his big sister and have her comfort him but he couldn't trust her not to take it back to their mother. "Tell me what happened."

"No."

* * *

It was clear that after Laura and Lydia left that Derek was in a foul mood, so Stiles decided to keep his distance. He kept himself busy by going over Derek's schedule and making phone calls to the people in charge of the events Derek was supposed to attend in the upcoming weeks. He made lunch and ate it outside with Juice before sending him home for the day. By the time dinner rolled around he figured Derek would hole up in his home gym all day so he decided to Skype Scott to see how things were going.

"Hey Scotty." He greeted his brother when the connection finally went through.

_"Stiles, dude, talk to me about something other than cake."_

"Cake testing day today, I forgot." Scott and Allison were knee-deep in wedding preparations. They would probably be done if Stiles hadn't gotten hurt at work. They had put the planning on hold to take care of him.

_"I wish I could. I feel like I'm going to throw up I ate so much today."_

"Sorry, buddy."

_"Where are you? I know that's not your kitchen."_

"Um…I'm at Derek's." He honestly didn't know how Scott would react to that piece of information. Scott and Derek had always gotten along but when Stiles separated from Derek Scott had as well as a form of solidarity.

_"Okay…why?"_

"Because he's being stalked and his dad hired me to be his bodyguard."

_"When did this happen?"_

"Well David showed up on my front porch last night. It's my first day on the job today."

_"Look, Stiles, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life – "_

"I appreciate that." He did appreciate that. He honestly and truly did.

_"But I know you've been in a weird place since you got hurt."_

"What does my getting hurt have to do with anything?"

_"That last assignment you were on… it fucked you up, Stiles. I don't just mean physically, but mentally to."_

"Get to the point." He was well aware of how fucked up he was, he didn't need his brother to point it out.

_ "I just want to make sure you're doing this because you want to and not out of some place of misplaced guilt or because you think you have too."_

"I _want_ to do this, Scott." He _needed_ to do it.

"Okay._ I just… I don't want you to do something that's going to end with you getting hurt again."_

"I'm a cop, Scott. I'm going to get hurt its part of the job."

_ "That's not what I mean and you know it."_

"Yes, I know what you mean." He knew exactly what Scott meant.

_"I can't believe David would ask you though."_

"Actually, I can blame you for that." He didn't really, because it wasn't his fault.

_"Why me?"_

"Because you don't know how to keep track of your stuff. He got my address from Isaac who got it from your phone." It probably happened while Scott was drunk. Hell, Isaac may have gotten him drunk for the sole purpose of snatching his phone.

_"Fuck man, I didn't know."_

"It's alright, Scotty. He would've found my address one way or another." It really wasn't that hard to find him if you knew the right people. It wasn't as if he'd been hiding.

_"Hey, I gotta go, we're having dinner with Allison's parents tonight."_

"Okay, have fun with that." Scott got along pretty well with her parents after college when they realized he was capable of being a responsible adult.

_"Oh yeah, tons. Hey are we still getting your tux when you come up for Thanksgiving?"_

"Yeah, I'm coming up early so we can do that." He really should have bought his tux already but well shit had happened and he didn't have the time to go get fitted for one.

_"Awesome. Well, tell Derek I said _hi_. I'll talk to you later bro."_

"Later."

* * *

When Derek didn't venture out for dinner Stiles decided to go to him. He found him still in the gym, beating up a punching bag. From the looks of his bloody knuckles he'd been at it for while. He didn't seem to notice Stiles right away so Stiles just leaned against the doorway to watch.

"Scott says hello." The only reaction he got was a nod of acknowledgment, nothing more. "You mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" He was obviously mad at somebody if the force he was putting behind his punches meant anything.

"I don't know, because you think I'm keeping things from you?" There were things Stiles never wanted Derek to know, things he was ashamed of, but at the same time there were things he needed the other man to know. "Ask me whatever you want and I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"Why are you on medical leave from work?" It honestly wasn't the question Stiles thought he would go with but he'd answer it anyway.

"I was on an undercover assignment and it went bad. I…" He worried his bottom lip between his teeth while he thought of the best way to approach that subject. "My cover got blown. Someone I worked with, someone I trusted, ended up being a dirty cop and he told the bad guy that I was a cop."

"What did he do to you?" There was genuine concern in Derek's voice that made Stiles ache.

"He held me captive for a week. He tortured me for information about the case we were building against him. He tried using electrocution, knives, a bull whip, brass knuckles…anything he thought could get me to break. I didn't give him anything. He um…he ended up putting three bullets in me." It was the worst god damn week of his life. "He left me for dead in some dirty back alley. I woke up a few days later in the hospital."

"Stiles…" Derek's eyes were wet and full of pity when Stiles looked up to meet them.

"The guy's dead now and the dirty cop will be rotting in prison the rest of his life." It was that knowledge that kept Stiles going when he didn't want to anymore while he was in the hospital. His cover had been blown but they'd gotten the guy anyway. "So that's why I'm on leave. I'm gonna go check on some things, maybe give my Dad a call. I left your dinner in the microwave."

"Stiles, wait." Derek grabbed his arm before he could make his way out of the room.

"What do you need, Derek?"

"Did I…hurt you?" He felt his entire body go rigid at the question. This was not the conversation he wanted to have, not now. "Did you leave because I hurt you?"

"We can never do things the slow way, can we? I've only been here a few hours and we're already…" He brought a hand up to his eyes to wipe away the tears that fell without his permission. "I don't want to do this now, Derek."

"Did you leave because I hurt you?" Derek repeated with more force this time.

"No, Derek, I didn't leave because you hurt me." He looked right into his husband's eyes as he said it so Derek would know he was telling the truth. "I left because I hurt you."


	4. Rotting Me From the Inside Out

References to bullying. As for the way Stiles handled both bullying with Erica and with Isaac, it still doesn't make bullying or retaliation okay. You cannot fight fire with fire.

* * *

The first week of Derek and Stiles co-habitation went a lot smoother than the first day.

After their emotional talk in the gym they'd both gone to their separate rooms to decompress and in the morning it had been as if nothing had happened. The thing about the two of them is that they both tended to ride the_ ignore it until it goes away_ train – and that didn't just pertain to each other either.

Derek was dodging phone calls from his mother left and right. He answered one of them and it lasted all about five minutes but when he'd hung up he looked like he'd been dragged down ten miles of bad road. Stiles was screening his calls from Scott because there was only so much wedding talk he could stand in one day. He was the Best Man not the Maid of Honor so there was no reason for him to be asked about flowers or seating arraignments.

Lydia had been right about Derek's schedule, though, it had been pretty lax. He had the Wheaties commercial first, which Stiles hadn't gotten to watch. He'd been busy watching everyone around that wasn't directly involved in the filming process. He made sure to keep an eye on anyone whose eyes lingered just a little too long.

The Under Armour photo shoot was a different situation. Stiles hated himself a little for the way he couldn't keep his eyes from roaming Derek's body. He should have been checking out the staff like he'd done before but he just couldn't help himself. It'd been a long time since he'd seen his husband stripped down. He knew it hadn't been the first Ad he'd done for the company, but Stiles had made a habit of _not_ collecting half-naked pictures of the other man after they'd separated, after all he wasn't a complete masochist.

Derek, being the asshole that he was, had smirked at Stiles every time he caught him watching. Stiles didn't think he'd imagined the suggestive looks his husband was throwing him. He just chose to ignore them for the sake of his own sanity. He also made Derek drive them home in retaliation because they both hated driving the LA streets no matter how late it was in the day.

By the time they'd reached Derek's house it was already after midnight and Stiles was more than ready to check the perimeter and head to bed. Any thoughts of sleep quickly evaporated when he saw the number of cars parked along the driveway and front lawn. There was music blaring from inside the house as well as what looked like a ton of people crowded inside and out.

"It's just Erica and Isaac." Derek assured him before he had time to properly react. "They said they were coming in to town today."

"How did they get into your house without setting off the alarm?" He checked his phone just in case he'd missed a ping on the security system.

"I gave them the code."

"You did what?"

"They're my friends and they need to have a way inside if I'm not home."

"Has it slipped your mind that you're being stalked?" It really shouldn't have because he'd received another letter two days ago.

"No, but we both agreed that it wasn't Erica or Isaac."

"Well in the off-chance that you went blind in the last thirty seconds, I'd like to remind you that Erica and Isaac aren't the only ones inside your house right now."

"It's just a party, Stiles, you need to relax. I doubt my stalker is going to pop up at a party that I didn't even know I was throwing."

"That is why I am the cop and you're the hot guy who dies in the shitty horror film because you're too stupid to listen to reason."

"You say the sweetest things." He seemed more amused than offended by Stiles comment. "The cops usually die in those movies too."

"Yeah, they die saving the day." Stiles muttered as he exited the car.

If anything the house looked a hell of a lot worse than Stiles pictured in his head. He recognized some of the guys from Derek's team sitting on the couch with drinks in their hands and women on their laps. He saw a few of the girls that had been on Derek's arm in the tabloid magazines grinding on the makeshift dance floor where Stiles was pretty sure a dining room table used to sit.

"Derek!" Oh yeah, Stiles knew that fucking voice and he tried hard not to cringe when the woman came rushing over.

"We've been waiting for you."

"I had a photo shoot." Derek leaned over to kiss Erica's cheek and to take a beer from Isaac.

"Underwear or a cereal box?" That female voice was different from the first but just as familiar. "You know how sexy I find your Under Armour ads."

"You're not the only one." Derek nodded toward Stiles who just watched the older woman drape herself over his husband.

"Look who the cat dragged in." She addressed him with a predatory smile.

"Kate." He greeted her with a steely glare rather than a smile.

Allison's aunt had always had a thing for Derek. She's tried to get in his pants while they were still in high school and she'd been in college. Talia Hale put a quick stop to that when she'd found out. It didn't stop her from trying the same moves on Scott, but he was so infatuated with Allison that he didn't even know she was coming on to him.

"You two are the talk of Beacon Hills since those pictures of you guys at dinner surfaced." After Derek shot the Wheaties commercial they'd decided to eat out and the paparazzi had a fucking field day. "Most of us are smart enough not to read too much into it."

"Kate, come do a shot with me!" An unfamiliar voice called from the kitchen.

"Be right there!" The blonde yelled back before planting a sloppy kiss on Derek's lips. "See ya in a bit."

"Yeah." Derek smiled like the idiot that he was as Kate walked away.

"Did we not already have a discussion about shitting where you eat?" Stiles hissed.

"She's going to be your best friends Aunt-in-law." He said it like that defined her mental stability. "Can you just relax for one night?"

"Relaxing is the exact opposite of what I should be doing right now. You're being stalked and you have a bunch of strangers in your house. How the hell don't you see the problem with this scenario?"

"Not all of us survive solely on paranoia." Isaac stated.

"I'm not paranoid. I'm alert." And on the job. "Aren't you two the least bit worried that you may or may not have invited the person threatening his life into his home?"

"Fucking hell, will you shut up and have a drink?" Erica shoved a drink into his hand, effectively pouring half of it on his shirt. "Its whiskey, maybe it'll calm you the fuck down."

"I'm an alcoholic." He ignored the surprised look Derek shot him in favor of dumping the drink in a fake potted plant. "And I'm working."

"Well, we are going to have some fun." Erica grabbed both Derek and Isaacs hands as if to lead them away. "You can stand in the corner and kick out anyone who looks like they're going to stab Derek in the heart."

"How about I call some of my friends at the LAPD and have them bust up this party?" Stiles threatened earning him an icy glare from all three of them.

"Stiles, come on," Derek sounded like he was going to fucking beg, and not in a good way. "It's just a little fun."

"Fun? Derek I'm a god damn cop and there are three fucking bongs sitting on your coffee table." He grabbed the closest one to him that happened to be made of glass. "It's your god damn house and I doubt if sirens started wailing that any of your new friends here would stick around to tell the police that this is their weed. Would you like to go to jail tonight?"

"Stiles – "

"Parties over."

"Why are you being such a pain in the ass about this?"

"I'm trying to keep you fucking safe!" He took a little too much pleasure in the way that Derek flinched when the glass bong shattered against the wall Stiles threw it at. "Anyone who doesn't live here needs to get the fuck out of the house now!"

"This isn't your house." Isaac pointed out unhelpfully.

"It's not yours either." He shot back before he felt a tug on his arm courtesy of Derek.

"What the hell is your problem tonight?" Derek growled.

"Your complete lack of self-preservation." He could not, for a second, fathom why Derek wouldn't take the threats against his life seriously. "I'm trying to protect you and now you're, for some reason I cannot begin to understand, trying to fight me tooth and nail about it. You've had no problem any other day but tonight you're trying to give me shit for it?"

"I wasn't trying to spend time with my friends any other night."

"You wanna spend time with Erica and Isaac or even Kate, that's fine –"

"So glad I have your permission."

"But everyone else is leaving or I will call the police." It wasn't a threat. It was a damn promise. "I'll give everyone ten minutes to gather their belongings and then they better be out the door."

He dared them to challenge his authority. David didn't hire him to be Derek's friend or to keep him happy. Stiles would do what he had to do to keep Derek safe and sometimes that meant playing the bad guy. If playing the bad guy meant acting like the Dad to a bunch of unruly teenagers then that's what Stiles would do. Derek would end up being pissed and might end up hating him but at least he'd be alive to do it.

He waited on the front porch for everyone who wasn't staying to exit the house. He knew he couldn't go back in the house anytime soon without ending up in another argument so he decided to call his dad to occupy his time.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, did I wake you?"

_"No, Stiles, I'm working the night shift tonight. Everything okay?"_

"Yeah..."

_"You don't sound okay."_

"I smell like whiskey."

_"You're drinking?"_ The worry in his father's voice outweighed the underlying disappointment.

"No, Dad, I promise I'm not drinking. Someone shoved a drink in my hand and most of it ended up on my shirt."

_"But you didn't drink it, Son, I'm proud of you."_

"I wanted to, Dad. I still want to."

_"Do you need me?"_

"You're my Dad, I'll always need you."

_ "Do you need me to come get you?"_

"No, I'm fine. It's just been a bad night."

_"Do you want to talk about it?"_ Talking about his night was the last thing Stiles wanted to do.

"No. Can you just take my mind off of it? Tell me about everyone you've arrested this week."

* * *

Stiles had ended up sleeping on Derek's couch after finding Erica passed out in the room he had been staying in. He could have woke her up and made her sleep on the couch but he really didn't want to deal with another argument and Derek's couch wasn't that uncomfortable. What was uncomfortable, though, was being woken up at ass o'clock in the morning by someone pounding on the front door.

"Who the fuck…?"

He could hear Derek stumbling his way down the stairs as he made his own way to the door. He didn't know who was more surprised, he or his husband, by the two figures that were standing on the other side of the door.

"Dad," Stiles greeted his father with a confused smile before turning to the woman beside him. "Cora."

"You're coming with me for the day." Stiles was being pulled out the door by his father before he could even react to that statement. "Cora is on Derek duty."

* * *

Derek could only look at Stiles and Johns retreating backs with bewilderment. He couldn't see Stiles face but he was pretty sure the man had a similar expression while he was being lead away.

"So, what happened?" Cora asked as she tried to find a relatively clean place to sit down. "It had to be big for the Sheriff to drag me out here bright and early to look after you."

"I don't know. Everything was going good, you know?" Derek sighed as he closed the front door. "It was almost like old times. Then last night we got back from my photo shoot and Erica and Isaac – "

"Never mind, I think I can figure out what happened now." She looked at him knowingly while shaking her head in disbelief.

"How could you possibly know why Stiles freaked the fuck out when you haven't even heard the story?" Unless his younger sister had turned into a mind reader she didn't know jack-shit.

"Because I know how you act when you're around your friends."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you're one of those guys that turns into a completely different person depending on who he's with."

"I do not." The words came out more petulant than he would have liked.

"You could be the sweetest guy in the world when you're around Stiles. Hell, Laura said you were openly flirting with him when she and Lydia were here."

"Laura should mind her own business."

"But the minute Erica or Isaac or Boyd enters the room you do a complete 180. It's like you're afraid they'll see you as weak or something if you show any kind of emotion that isn't arrogance."

"I don't do that." He reiterated his earlier statement with more force this time.

"Derek, how many times did you see Isaac shove Stiles against a locker when we were in high school? How many times did you just stand there and watch it happen? What about when Erica nearly concussed him with a piece of his own Jeep? Did you ever step in and tell them that it wasn't okay to do that? Did you ever stand up for Stiles when one of your friends was bullying him?"

"Stiles has always been able to stand up for himself, he never needed me to do it." It probably would've pissed him off to no end if Derek had stepped in to defend him.

"Fine, then do you ever wonder why he never stood up for himself in those situations? I mean, we've both seen him deck Jackson. He could take Isaac with one hand tied behind his back. And he was well within his rights to file assault charges on Erica. Have you ever once thought about why he never did?"

"Since you think you know everything, why don't you explain it to me?"

"He never did anything because they are your friends."

"What?"

"He wouldn't fight back against them because he knew they were your friends and he didn't want you to hate him."

* * *

Stiles and his Dad had sat in silence since they'd arrived at Stiles' house. They sat on Stiles back porch and both let their cups of coffee go cold waiting for the other to speak first.

"Talk to me, Stiles."

"I didn't mean for you to come all the way out here." He hated being a burden and now he'd made his father and Cora drive all the way to Los Angeles to deal with him.

"You called me last night saying you wanted to have a drink. Of course I was going to drive down. You've been doing so well. I don't want you to fall off the wagon now." Stiles had been sober for five years, he had a chip and everything. He knew how much his sobriety meant to his family.

"It's so easy to be around him again, you know? It's like the last few years were just a dream and I've finally woken up and we're back on track now." Dream may not have been the right word. Nightmare might have been better suited.

"I wish it was a dream, Stiles. I wish none of the things that had happened did."

"I forgot it was a job. I've only been doing it for a week and I forgot that it was just a job. I forgot that we weren't together. I forgot that I left him." Nothing had happened between them, there was flirting back and forth but that was as far as it had gone. He knew, though, if he couldn't remember why he was there then it would go further.

"If this is becoming too much for you, you can always say quit. David will understand. I don't want you to get hurt anymore than you already have." If it were any other job quitting would be easy but it wasn't and he and his father both knew he couldn't quit, not while Derek was still in danger.

"I'm not worried about getting hurt, Dad. I'm worried that I'm going to hurt him. Again."

"Again?"

"I never told you why…I showed up at your door with a suitcase in my hand but I never told you the truth about why I left." He never really told anybody.

"So tell me now."

"When you lose someone they tell you that you'll grieve and you'll cope. They never tell your how different coping is from grieving. Grieving is accepting that the person you love is never coming back. It breaks your heart and makes you feel like you'll never be whole again but in the end you accept that the person you love is gone. Coping is…coping is having to live the rest of your life with the memory of that person following you. Coping is learning living with that insurmountable sadness for the rest of your life."

He knew his father understood what it was like. They had both lost Stiles mother. Stiles had been too young to understand anything besides the fact that his mother wasn't coming back. He understood loss differently now.

"When Derek and I lost our baby…we did the grieving. You watched us grieve."

"Yes I did." His father had grieved with them. He'd grieved the loss of his first grandchild.

"We accepted that our baby was gone and that we'd never get to hold him or raise him or see his first step or hear his first word. It was the coping that we couldn't do. Neither of us knew how to live with that loss. We could accept it but we didn't know how to live with it.

"It was easier when we were still in college because we could throw ourselves into our coursework. We would focus every bit of ourselves on a term paper or our finals or Derek's practice. We could pretend for a little while that it didn't hurt. When we graduated it got worse because there wasn't anything to focus on or to keep us busy. So we found new ways to cope."

"You started drinking."

"We started drinking." He echoed tiredly. "We both picked up our own bottles and we'd drink until we could forget and then we'd drink some more. God, we'd say the most awful things to each other when we were drunk. We said and did things we would never have done sober. The more we drank the more violent we got."

"Violent?"

"At first it was just throwing things and then it was shoving each other around."

"Stiles, did he ever hit you?" His father adopted the cautious tone that Stiles had heard him use on abuse victims at the station and he hated himself for making his Dad use it now.

"I hit him. He hit me. We hit each other." The tears poured down Stiles face and for once he just let them keep falling. "We would beat the hell out of each other, Dad."

"Jesus, Stiles."

"I woke up one morning and Derek was lying on his stomach beside me and he had these shards of glass sticking out of his back. They weren't in deep enough to need stitches but they were in there enough for him to bleed. I knew that it was my fault, that I had done that. The night before I had shoved him while we were fighting and he'd fallen back onto our glass coffee table and it had shattered under his weight. I woke him up that morning and I pulled every shard of glass out of his back and then I made him go take a shower. I called Cora and told her she needed to come down and look after him and then I packed a bag and I left before he got out of the bathroom."

"Stiles – "

"If we had carried on like we were…we would've killed each other or ourselves." Leaving Derek had been one of the hardest decisions he'd ever made but even now he knew that it had to be done. "I had to leave him to save him."


	5. Feeling Scared to Breathe

John spent his entire day with Stiles listening to him talk.

Stiles could talk for hours if given the chance, usually about inane topics. Rarely could you get Stiles to talk about himself. When Stiles was a child he had a therapist that called it a defense mechanism. Stiles would talk people in circles about nothing because if he ever talked about something that was important to him then it could be used against him.

Today, though, Stiles talked to him about everything that he refused to share before. By the time he had finally quieted his voice had been raw and his eyes were red-rimmed. He'd looked like the shattered and broken man who John had dropped off at the treatment center years ago. It'd broken his heart to see his boy like that again.

He'd made Stiles go to bed afterward. It said something about how exhausted his son was that he didn't complain that it was only 5 o'clock in the evening. John had tucked him in like he was a child and waited until he fell asleep before he left the room. He made sure to leave a note on the counter before he left the house.

* * *

Stiles had taken his first steps toward Derek. Derek had been too busy tugging on Talia's skirt to notice and ended up knocking Stiles down. Of course the minute the waterworks started Derek had abandon his mother in favor of hugging Stiles to make the hurt go away.

John and Claudia renewed their wedding vows when the boys were six. Stiles apparently enjoyed the ceremony so much that he'd stopped the reception to have one of his own. He'd pilfered a few ring pops from someone and dragged Derek and Scott to the middle of the dance floor and declared that they were married too. Laura told them if they were really married then they had to seal the deal with a kiss. Scott had bowed out pretty quickly citing cooties. When Derek tried to make his own exit Stiles had grabbed him by the cheeks and planted a sloppy kiss right on his lips. Both boys were beet red with embarrassment when the crowd had erupted into laughter and applause.

The same year all the Hale kids had spent more time at the Stilinski house than they did their own. Talia and David had busy dealing with the death of Talia's father and Peter's admission into Eichen house. Claudia and John had tried to give them some sense of stability during that time and in turn the Hales provided the same thing for Stiles when Claudia's sickness worsened.

Stiles refused to speak for months after they'd buried Claudia. The eight year old would sit for hours just looking out the window as if he was waiting for his mother to come walking up the drive after a long day at work. John could remember how put off the other kids were by Stiles at that time, because he'd always been the one who couldn't keep still or keep a smile off his face. Malia would always try to entice Stiles to go outside and play but he'd never budge. Cora would read him stories, whether he was listening to them or not they could never tell. Scott would curl up in bed beside him so they could cry together. Derek, though, Derek wouldn't talk or entice Stiles to do anything. He'd sit next to him by the front window and watch with him. It may have taken awhile but eventually Stiles started to speak again.

Puberty had been an awkward for all of them. It was a group decision (and by group decision he meant that he, Talia and Peter had a secret meeting to ensure that they were not going to be the ones to do it) to have Melissa and David give a joint _your body is changing and that's okay_ talk, followed by a hilariously traumatizing talk about safe sex. The kids couldn't look each other or any of the adults in the eye for weeks.

They were freshman in high school when Derek attempted to woo Stiles. Wooing to a Hale was, apparently, dribbling a basketball to annoy the object of their affection and telling them if they could take the ball then Derek would leave them alone (Derek would try the same stunt on Paige the next year). When Stiles relayed the story to John that night it went something like this:

_"Dude, I have to go talk to Harris about my grade, so can you move?" Stiles was trying to exit the gym only to have Derek stand in his way. _

_"I will move…if you can take the ball from me." Derek smirked as he started dribbling the ball. "There's only five minutes before you have to be at your next class, if you want to talk to Harris you're going to have to grab the ball." "_

_Why are you being an asshole about this?" Stiles was most definitely not amused by this situation. "I gotta go, Derek." _

_"Take the ball." Stiles face went from annoyed to shocked as he looked down toward the ball then back up at Derek's face. _

_"You're flies open." _

_"What?" Derek's hands faltered and the ball bounced away from him, right into Stiles waiting hands. "You lied to me." _

_"Nothing gets past you does it?"_

In the end Derek had to man up and tell Stiles how he felt and that was a painful experience for everyone involved. Derek had shimmied up the drainpipes to get through Stiles bedroom window in the middle of the night while he assumed Stiles was sleeping. John didn't know what Derek had planned to do after he got into the bedroom and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to. The problem with the plan, however, was that Stiles had fallen asleep on the couch watching movies with Scott so Scott decided to sleep in Stiles room. Derek hadn't been quiet enough during his climb and when he'd finally gotten into the window Scott knocked him unconscious with Stiles baseball bat thinking he was a predator. The result was a couple of stitches, a concussion and drugged up Derek yelling that he loved Stiles.

The relationship went on, off, and back on again during the first two years of high school but by junior year they were relatively steady. Stiles went to Derek's basketball or baseball games while Derek watched Stiles track meets and lacrosse games. They'd gotten bullied into going to prom with their friends only to show up in their normal attire and Lydia had kicked them out of the limousine so they wouldn't embarrass her.

College would usually be the time for couples to move on and experiment. It only seemed to push Stiles and Derek closer together. Stiles studied criminal justice while Derek studied history. They'd lived in dorms the first year and moved into an apartment together during the summer after it. It seemed as if their problems seemed to dissipate when it was just the two of them. Being away from the input of their family and friends allowed them to focus on just each other. It helped them learn just how good they could be together.

Stiles had surprised John when he'd come home for the weekend of Halloween without Derek. John had walked into his kitchen to see his son sitting there look exhausted and petrified with a positive pregnancy test on the table. They'd known it was a possibility, it was rare in men but it happened. Stiles hadn't been scared of the pregnancy itself, he was just scared of telling Derek. They'd both discussed children before but it'd been a distant future sort of discussion. They were both still in college and nowhere near ready to have a child. He'd eventually calmed his son down enough to call Derek and tell him to get his ass to Beacon Hills.

Derek had been just as nervous as Stiles was when he heard the news. John mediated the conversation, trying to show his support and guide them in whatever they decided. They'd returned to Berkeley with a new outlook on the future and more decisions to make. He didn't see the pair again until Thanksgiving, when they both showed up with wedding bands on their fingers and a shiny new marriage certificate dated for a few days before.

John always wished he'd been with Stiles when they went to tell the Hales. Both boys had been excited to make the announcement. They had both been so sure that Derek's family would be happy for them. He'd gotten a text message halfway through his shift from Derek, telling him that he should go home and check on Stiles. He'd found Stiles lying down on the couch looking as if he'd cried himself to sleep. Derek had shown up a few hours later looking distressed and wrung out. Derek told him that his mother had freaked out about the marriage and had yelled at Stiles.

He'd tried to comfort Derek. To tell him that the marriage and the pregnancy had obviously shocked Talia and that her attitude would blow over. He wished it had blown over but it just seemed to get worse. Derek stopped speaking to his parents for a while. John had tried to talk to Talia himself but she'd refused to speak with him if it wasn't work related.

Stiles suffered a miscarriage a week before Christmas. He and Scott had been out shopping for last-minute Christmas gifts when someone ran a red light and t-boned Scotts car. Stiles injuries and the stress brought on from the accident caused him to lose the baby. Derek and John never left his side during his hospital stay but not one of the Hales had shown their faces or even called to check on Derek or Stiles.

Stiles decision to leave Derek hadn't been that surprising. John knew they'd been on shaky ground since the miscarriage. He knew that Derek's ascension from playing college baseball to playing professionally for the Dodgers had been one more thing that had driven them apart. John knew that Stiles had been happy for Derek, he'd attended every game and cheered him on but the fame of it had become too much too soon. The more Derek infused himself into the spotlight the more Stiles shied away from it.

When Stiles showed up early one morning with a suitcase in his hands and tears in his eyes John didn't question it. Scott had tried to ask him about the break up a few times but Stiles wouldn't talk about it. Every time someone tried to bring it up Stiles would politely tell them to fuck off and then he'd have another drink.

They'd all caught on to Stiles newfound attachment to alcohol quickly. It wasn't as though he hadn't tried to get sober, because he did try. John had sat with him through the nausea and vomiting. He'd watched his boys hands shake and saw the effects of the insomnia. He watched every relapse with a broken heart.

They all knew that Stiles would never get sober by going cold turkey. He couldn't fully focus on his recovery when he and Derek were fighting during their phone calls. They'd confronted him about it several times only for it to turn into a screaming match about shitty life choices. It was only after Stiles raised a hand to hit Scott while in a drunken stupor that he agreed that rehab would probably be better for him.

John could remember seeing Derek in town after he and Stiles had separated. There would be a glimmer of hope in the man's eyes as he'd scan the surrounding area for any sign of Stiles. The hope would fade in to something dark and sorrowful and he'd disappear before John could say anything.

John knew Derek Hale wasn't a bad kid, not intentionally anyway. He was just sort of dense. He was easily manipulated and his friends tended to use that against him. Hell, his own family used it against him.

John knew that Derek loved Stiles. It was a heartbreaking kind of love the two of them shared. It didn't go away no matter how long they'd been separated from each other. It was the kind of love that lasted a lifetime but would always end in tragedy.

* * *

The first thing John did when Derek answered his front door was tell him that they needed to talk before shouldering his way in. He took a special kind of pleasure in the confusion mixed with a bit of fear that showed on the other man's face.

"Where's Stiles?" Derek questioned as he handed John a cup of coffee and took a seat across from him at the kitchen table. "Is he okay?"

"He's resting at home. He may come back tonight, I'm not sure. If he doesn't Cora can stay with you again and he'll be here in the morning." Cora worked as his deputy at the Sheriff's station so John knew she could take another day off. "Let's talk about your stalker problem."

"What about it? My parents have the LAPD and a private detective trying to figure out who it is." John knew that, of course, because both Cora and Stiles had talked to him about it. "I know Stiles doesn't think I'm taking the threat seriously – "

"If you weren't taking the threat seriously you wouldn't have allowed your father to hire a bodyguard in the first place. You didn't do that to placate him because you knew you'd be stuck with someone hanging around you for twenty-four hours a day." If Derek wanted to placate them he'd say he would hire himself a bodyguard and then never follow through. "I know your taking the threats seriously. It's Stiles that you're not taking seriously."

"That's not true." Derek exclaimed, rather petulantly if you asked John. "I take Stiles very seriously."

"No you don't, or you would listen and not argue when he tells you to do something in regards to your safety." When Derek started to splutter in protest John held up a hand to stop him. "Stiles is a decorated police officer. He's caught murderers and rapists. He's talked jumpers off the ledge of a building and he's taken bullets for civilians and his fellow officers."

"I know, he told me, some of it at least."

"There's a difference between knowing it and being told." John clarified. "Do you know why Stiles could never work for me at the Sheriff's station?"

"Because it's against regulations?" Derek guessed.

"No, it's because every time I look at Stiles I still see my little boy. I see the kid that used to beg me for piggy back rides. The snot nosed brat who would blow up his GI Joes in the backyard using firecrackers." The firecracker toy killings only got worse when Malia and Cora found out he was doing it and then they had to join in with their barbies. "You see Stiles and you see pranks on Finstock or him singing some horrible pop song at the top of his lungs."

"Okay..."

"You know that he's not that person anymore. It's painfully obvious how different he is." Though given the chance you could place bets on how fast Stiles and Scott would pull another prank on their old coach. "But who he is now and who he was then is just not connecting for you. Stiles couldn't work for me because I will always see him as my little boy and I could never willingly put him in danger, even if it is his job. You can't take him seriously because your minds stuck on the kid you grew up with rather than the man that he is."

"So, what do I do?"

"You keep your mouth shut and let him do his job." It wasn't as simple as it sounded but he hoped Derek could pull it off. "Even if you can't take him seriously…just do what he says. The Stiles you knew and the Stiles he is now would both do anything to protect you. You just have to trust Stiles enough to do that."

"Okay," He agreed. "I mean, I'll try?"

"That's all I ask." The less shit Derek gave Stiles for trying to do his job the better off they'd both be. "The next thing I want to talk to you about is the fact that your friends tried to hand Stiles a drink last night."

"I didn't know Stiles was an alcoholic until last night." Derek held his hands up in defense. "If I'd had known I would've stopped Erica."

"He wears his five-year chip on a string around his wrist, how do you miss that?" He shook his head in disbelief before continuing. "It doesn't matter. You know now. If Stiles is going to continue being your bodyguard then things need to change."

"I'll throw out the booze." Derek offered while his eyes roamed the beer bottles that still littered the counter tops.

"That's not what I mean. Stiles can be around people who drink. He can be around alcohol without taking a drink. It's hard but he can do it." It took a while for any of them to feel comfortable drinking anything that had alcohol in it around Stiles when he left rehab. "If you want to get rid of the alcohol in your house it has to be because you want to, not because you think it's what Stiles needs. Stiles will only think your being condescending."

"Okay."

"Look, Stiles and I had a long talk today and I learned some things I wasn't aware of before. I'm going to say some things to you and you're going to listen because you're still my son-in-law, and despite certain members of your family, I still care about you." He made sure he had Derek's full attention, eye contact and all. "When you and Stiles drank you became abusive toward each other. That's why Stiles left. He was afraid one or both of you would go too far and you'd end up dead."

"I…I don't have an excuse. I know I hurt Stiles both mentally and physically." There was honest remorse in his eyes as he spoke. "If I could go back – "

"You can't go back. You can't change the past. Stiles took his fear of hurting you and he used it to rebuild his life. He got sober so he would never hurt you or anyone else. He never hated you for the things you did while drunk. He hated himself and was ashamed of the things he'd done, but he didn't let himself drown in it forever."

"I'm glad he was able to do that. I'm glad that he got his life back. I'm proud of him."

"So am I." He'd always be proud of the strength Stiles showed in the face of fear. "What have you done since he left? To me it looks like you're the same person you were the day he left. It's a nicer house, a better salary, but are you the same man?"

"Since we were kids my life revolved around Stiles. He was always there leading me and Scott off on some adventure. I got used to following him. When he left… I didn't know what to do. I didn't know why he'd gone and I didn't know if he was coming back." Derek's voice was hoarse with emotion as he spoke.

"You didn't answer my question." John pointed out.

"I don't drink like I used to, but I still drink more than I should. I never cheated on Stiles when we were together but I sleep around now and I feel like shit afterword. I haven't had a real relationship since Stiles. I'm not the same person I was when he left but I'm not a better person either." He admitted sadly.

"You know, Stiles told me you both used drinking as a way to cope with the loss of your son." Derek shuddered as his eyes darted toward the doorway, toward the living room where Cora was, then back to him. "Do you think that your…lifestyle is a coping mechanism as well? Coping for losing Stiles and your son?"

"It's an easy out, isn't it? Blaming loss for my being a shitty person?" Self-deprecation wasn't a good look on him.

"Have you ever talked to anyone about it?" Talking could do wonders if you had the right listener.

"Who would I talk to, my family?" The incredulous look he sent John told him that there was a fat chance in hell of him ever talking to his family about anything personal. "They weren't exactly great to Stiles after we got married. I doubt they would have sympathized with me after he left. I couldn't talk to them about the baby because they didn't even know there was one."

"What do you mean they never knew there was a baby?" Stiles had been four months pregnant when he'd miscarried, that was plenty of time for Derek to tell them.

"Mom exploded when she found out Stiles and I got married. How do you think she was going to react if I told her Stiles was pregnant?" Sadness, anger and resentment laced Derek's voice and shown on his face. "I wanted to give them a chance to cool down before I told them. I was going to give them the ultrasound photo for Christmas that year, hoping to appeal to their sense of family."

"But you never got the chance." The car accident and miscarriage happened right before Christmas. "Jesus, Derek….you should've said something …I would've tried to help you more, been there for you more after the miscarriage. I was so focused on Stiles at the time and I thought your family would've been there for you, despite how they felt about Stiles. I know that you had Stiles, but he wasn't in the position to help anyone at the time. You shouldn't have gone through that one your own."

"He's right." Cora soft voice alerted them to her presence in the kitchen. She looked at her older brother with tear filled eyes. "You should have told me or Uncle Peter or someone. We could have helped you through it."

"I'm sorry." Derek looked down at the table as if he was ashamed that his sister had to see him in such a state of sadness. "I'm sorry."

"No one should have to go through that alone, Derek. I'm sorry that you did." John put a reassuring hand on his son-in-laws shoulder. "You know that it's not to late to fix your life, right? You have people willing to help you. You have your sister right there, who knows at least part of what happened now. I know she's more than willing to help you however she can."

"Damn straight." Cora affirmed before hugging her brother tightly.

"You have to want to change your life, though. You're not a bad person, I know that, Cora knows that, and Stiles knows that. You just… you need to stop living in the past and learn to grow with the future. Learn from your mistakes instead of dwelling on them." The only people you could help were the ones willing to accept it. "You don't like who you are when you drinking? Stop drinking. You hate yourself for sleeping around? Stop sleeping around."

"What about Stiles?" It was a hesitant question, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to ask it. "What if I want him in my life, as my husband, again?"

"Derek, I know how easy it was for you two to get along after all this time. The truth of the matter is…neither of you are the same people you were. Seven years makes a hell of a difference. If you two ever decided to try again you'd have to start back at the beginning. You'd have to get to know each other again." John knew Stiles wasn't ready for that and Derek had a lot of growing up to do before it could ever happen. "If you jumped back into marriage then it would destroy you both."

* * *

Stiles showed up at Derek's house a few hours later. By then John, Derek and Cora were all watching some made-for-TV movie and trying to decompress from the emotionally draining conversation earlier. Cora was the first one to spot Stiles when he walked through the door.

"Stiles!" She launched herself at him, grabbing him in a tight embrace.

"Cora…" It wasn't like the hug Laura had given him. It wasn't fear or resignation in his eyes when Cora wrapped around him. It was shock, plain and simple. "You're hugging me."

"Duh."

"You don't hug people." True, Cora was not the most tactile of the Hale family. "When we were kids you fell off the jungle gym and Scott tried to hug you to make you feel better and kicked him in the balls."

"Shut up, Stiles." She grumbled, tightening the hug.

"What do I do?" Stiles looked to Derek and John for answers.

"Hug her back." John offered and watched as his son cautiously wrapped his arms around the younger Hale.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked truly concerned for his sister-in-laws wellbeing.

"Information overload." She answered honestly before pulling away and looking him in the eye. "I love you."

"I love you too…" He looked from Cora to Derek and his father. "I don't want to know what the two of you did to break Cora."

"Shut up, Stiles." She responded by socking him in the arm.

"Aww, there's the Cora I know." He leaned over quickly and kissed her cheek.

"Gross." She complained while wiping the spot with her hand.

"Hey, have you guys watched the news today?" Stiles asked as he grabbed the remote control.

"No, why?"

"I heard something on the radio on the way over." He flipped the channel from lifetime to the local news.

_"Famed Cellist Paige Krasikeva has been hospitalized after suffering severe smoke inhalation from a fire that broke out at her Pasadena home. Details of the fire are still emerging. A spokesman for the Cellist has said that the police are unsure whether or not the fire is arson."_

"I just saw her a few weeks ago." Derek admitted as he watched the screen replay video of the fire taken from a bystander's camera. "We were both doing an interview for the same magazine and we had lunch together."

"At least it's only smoke inhalation." Stiles tried to look at the bright side of the conversation. "It could've been a lot worse."


	6. We Talked About Making It

Stiles father and Cora left not long after the news broadcast about Paige had aired. They both had jobs to get back to and apparently felt comfortable with letting Derek and Stiles be alone in each other's presence again. They'd both gone to their separate bedrooms as soon as the Sheriff's car had left the driveway.

Stiles was the first one up the next morning. He dressed and showered before making his way downstairs, which still looked like a war zone. He took his time to give the place a deep cleaning. He threw away the beer bottles and other alcohol containers. He cleaned up the glass from the bong he'd thrown against the wall. He chucked a potted plant that looked like it'd been pissed in and used as an ashtray into the trash and proceeded to scrub down every surface he could with bleach.

He was making breakfast when Derek finally made his way down the stairs. Stiles could feel the eyes on the back of his head as he chopped up an apple. He wasn't nervous, per say, he was just more alert to the fact that shit wasn't the same as it'd been a few days ago.

"We're going to have to talk." He said in lieu of hello.

"Why do most of our conversations happen in this kitchen?" Derek questioned with a soft sigh while he grabbed his cup of coffee.

"Honestly? Because, I'm a little bit in love with your kitchen." It was true, this kitchen was fucking beautiful and it wasn't used nearly enough.

"I'm jealous."

"You just can't understand our love." He ran a loving hand over the countertop. "So pretty."

"Do you two need to be alone?" There was a huff of laughter that followed the question.

"No, because I was serious, you and I have to talk." Stiles nodded his head toward the seat across from him at the island.

"I'm not with Kate." Derek informed him as he took the seat offered obediently. "We've slept together a few times but we're not anymore."

"Um that's good to know, but actually not what I wanted to talk about." Stiles wasn't really sure why the hell Derek had brought it up in the first place. "I wanted to talk to you about Thanksgiving."

"Oh, okay."

"I have to go back to Beacon Hills the week before Thanksgiving. I have a tux fitting with Scott, for his and Allison's wedding." He'd told them he could pick out his own tux but they didn't trust his judgment when it came to formal attire. You show up to senior prom in jeans and flannel and they take away your right to dress yourself for big events forever. "If you're okay with going back early as well then it's not a problem. If you plan to stay here and leave later then I can get Juice or one of the other guys to stay with you."

"I can go up early, I don't mind. I want to spend some time with Cora anyway." Cora looked like she hadn't wanted to leave the night before, as if going home and leaving her big brother physically pained her.

"Is she okay? Last night was a little weird." He and Cora had always been friends but Cora was more a _I'll punch you in the gut to show my love,_ rather than giving someone a hug.

"She um…she overheard a conversation I had with your Dad and she learned some things she didn't know before." And that sounded a little ominous. "She'll be okay, though."

"Good." He was still a little worried about her but he was willing to let it go for now. "And you? You looked a little worse for wear when I showed up last night. Are you okay?"

"I'm an asshole." Derek admitted like it was something neither of them knew. "But I'm going to work on it. I'm probably going to fuck up a lot, as usual, but I'm going to try to be better."

"Be better at what?"

"Being a human being." He sounded like he wasn't sure. "A better brother to Cora and Laura. A better _friend_ to you. I wanna be the kind of man our son would've been proud of."

"That must have been one hell of a conversation between you and my Dad." Stiles swallowed the lump of emotion that had formed in his throat.

"It was." Derek nodded in confirmation. "It's not going to happen overnight. I know I'm going to fuck up. I just want you to know that I'm going to try."

"I'm proud of you, for trying." He gave his husband a soft smile. "But, you know, you have to do this because you want to. You have to get better for you, not for anyone else. If you can look yourself in the mirror and like who's looking back at you then do it knowing that you made that decision because wanted it, not because someone else told you to change. It has to be for you."

"I know that, your dad actually said the same thing." Stiles father was a smart man. "Cora wants to help me."

"You should let her. You don't have to do it by yourself and you shouldn't have to." Stiles knew what it was like to want to change, to have to change, and he wouldn't have gotten through it without his family by his side. "I didn't do it alone. I had my Dad, Scott and Melissa. I even spent some time in a treatment center."

"I didn't know that."

"I spent two years trying to get sober while I stayed at my Dads house and I just kept relapsing and it kept getting worse. I went off on Scott one night. I almost hurt him," The last thing he wanted to do was hurt someone. "I knew I had to try a different method after that. So I went and spent some time in rehab."

"How long were you there?" Times could vary depending on the person and how bad their addiction could be.

"Ninety days." They were willing to let him go home after sixty but he hadn't trusted himself enough to leave. "It's where I met Juice, actually. He was my roommate."

"So when I asked how the two of you met and you told me you didn't want to get into it…"

"I didn't know if Juice was comfortable with me telling someone he didn't know that he'd been to rehab." It wasn't exactly something he was willing to announce the world. "And the meeting he was asking me if I was planning to go to was an AA meeting. We have a system where if one of us needs to go to a meeting then the other one goes to for moral support."

"That's good, I guess, that you have someone like that." Derek didn't seem to convinced that it was a good thing if the wary tone in his voice meant anything.

"Are you still jealous? I already told you nothing happened between Juice and I. He is a happily married man. You met his husband, in fact, the Scottish guy with the scars that came over to help him finish up the security system installation." Derek had basically stared down both Juice and Chibs when they'd been in the house right up until they left. "It doesn't matter how many times I've been in their bed, nothing – "

"In _their_ bed?" Oh look, shock and outrage. "You just said nothing happened between you and Juice. Now you're saying you've been in bed with him _and_ his husband?"

"When I say nothing happened I mean that there was nothing but friendship between us, in an emotional sense." That didn't seem to make it better judging by the glare being directed at him. "Sexually, they are a healthy couple that likes to experiment. I was happy to oblige when they asked if I wanted to join them once or twice or maybe three times..."

"Maybe a couple of times?" Derek offered but his tone was changing from anger to something else Stiles was familiar with.

"You're imagining me in the middle of a Juice and Chibs love-sandwich aren't you?" Stiles questioned while watching his husbands eyes dilate in arousal.

"No." Lie.

"Liar." He smirked at the other man. "I knew you were kinky but I didn't think you'd find the idea of my getting double teamed by people who are strangers to you arousing. For someone with such a possessive streak I did not see that one coming."

"Shut up." Derek demanded with an embarrassed look on his face. "You don't have to throw your sexual conquests in my face you know."

"You didn't need to throw yours in my face the other night." They were both aware of who Stiles was referring to.

"Touché." He conceded. "About that night – "

"Nothing about that night was okay." Stiles said firmly. "I'm not going to apologize for my behavior or say I overreacted. As your bodyguard, you showed no regard for your own safety and you were making my job unnecessarily more difficult. You showed you have no respect for me or the job I'm trying to do. And as your friend or husband or whatever I am to you now, you were being an absolute dick."

"I do respect you." He actually looked hurt by the fact that Stiles thought he didn't. "I don't mean to make your job harder. Your dad thinks it because I can't take you seriously. He told me to just shut up and do what you tell me without complaint."

"That would be a good place to start. You need to realize that I'm trying to protect you. Those threats you're receiving aren't anything to just wave off. Those are serious. Someone is threatening to hurt you, Derek. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen. I asked you when I first got here if you trusted me to protect you, now I'm asking you again. Do you trust me to keep you safe?"

"Yes."

"Good, then the next time one of your friends wants to throw a party in your house you tell them no. At least until your stalker is apprehended." Stiles would raise hell if someone tried to throw another party while he was still in danger. "You wanna have your friends over, fine, it's your house, but no more parties until this is over."

"Okay." Derek agreed. "I want to talk about something that's going to piss you off."

"Oh sweetheart, the number of things that can be astounds me." Seriously, there were way too many topics Derek could bring up that would irritate him.

"Erica and Isaac." Not a topic Stiles would've chosen but whatever.

"What about them?"

"It's been brought to my attention that they haven't always been nice to you," That was an understatement if he'd ever heard one. "And that I never stood up for you when I should have."

"Let's get one thing straight," Stiles started, "I'm a big boy. I don't need you or anyone else to stand up for me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"I know that but – "

"Should you have gotten your friends to stop being assholes to me or anyone else in high school? Yeah, you should have. Why? Because, it's the right thing to do. You see someone hurting another person you step in and you stop them. It doesn't matter if the one doing the hurting is your friend." He was on a roll not with no intention of stopping now. "You should have said something to Erica and Isaac. Danny, should have said something or even Lydia or Allison or Greenberg. You all should have said something if you saw that I was being hurt, but you didn't. You all kept your mouths shut. But I did not need you to stand up for me. I could do that on my own."

"Then why didn't you?" Derek demanded an answer. "Why didn't you tell your dad that Erica hit you with a piece of your car? Why didn't you tell a teacher or anyone about Isaac? Why didn't you stand up for yourself?"

"I didn't say anything about Erica because I felt sorry for her." Aside from being a bitch the only thing Erica had actually done to him was hit him. "She hated me because she wanted you and you wouldn't look at her twice that way. I felt bad because she always tried so hard to get your attention."

"Wait – no. Erica didn't want me." Derek seemed to chuckle at the idea of it. "She wanted you."

"What? No. She kissed you, remember? Not long after you and I started dating she jumped you during gym." Stiles could remember that day clearly, he saw fucking red when she'd launched herself at Derek.

"She did that to make you jealous. She flat-out told me that she'd had the hots for you since middle school. You are the one that didn't look at her twice, not me." And Derek was full on laughing now.

"So, when I hooked up Malia she didn't hit me because of some protective instinct over you? She hit me because I hooked up with a girl who wasn't her?" That was fucking unbelievable. "Are you screwing with me?"

"No, I'm really not." Derek's let his laughter die down before fixing him with another serious look. "Okay, so what about Isaac?"

"Who says I never stood up for myself when it came to Isaac?" Please, like Stiles would actually stand there and take it.

"Everybody. I mean, I know Scott talked to him senior year and got him to stop – "

"Scott didn't say anything to him." Scott was a good friend, a little oblivious but then again so was Derek. "He wanted to but I told him I was handling it."

"How did you handle it?"

"Well, after what happened with his dad I couldn't physically hurt him. I'm not a monster." The shit that went down with Mr. Lahey was insane. "But I will tell you that for every locker I was pushed into something incredibly annoying would happen to him."

"What is that supposed to mea- oh my god!" Stiles had to smile when Derek pointed an accusing finger at him. "You were water balloon guy!"

"Yes I am." During junior year Stiles would place water balloons in Isaacs locker during school. It was rigged so when he'd he slammed the door shut the balloon would pop and send water gushing all over his books, soaking his homework and rendering it unreadable, therefore unable to turn in. When Isaac started keeping his homework in his backpack Stiles would simply find a way to get a water balloon into there as well.

"Are you dick pic guy too?" Stiles had to stifle a snort as he nodded his head in confirmation that he was in fact dick pic guy. Isaac had smartened up senior year and gott his teachers to accept his work over email. Stiles found a way to hack his teachers email accounts and attach dick pictures to Isaac's assignments before they'd had a chance to look them over."He almost got expelled for that."

"Not my problem. Or my dick, I feel I should point that out." He put up with physical bullying, Isaac could put up with a few detentions. "Did you seriously think I would do nothing? What part of my personality would suggest that I would just sit back there and let myself get tormented without fighting back?"

"Well…" And yeah Stiles knew exactly where Derek's mind was going.

"Your crazy mother does not count." Stiles growled. "There is a huge difference between a high school bully and a woman who acted as another maternal figure to me growing up. It is not the same thing."

"I know that, I'm sorry." Derek held up his hands in defense. "Speaking of my mother…"

"Oh Christ." Stiles put down the knife he was still using the chop up fruit. "What?"

"She was another bully," He stated solemnly. "Another person I didn't stand up to."

"She's your mother." He never wanted to put Derek in the position where he had to choose between Stiles and his family. "I did not expect you to stand up for me when it came to her."

"Whether you expected me to or not, I should have."

"That night we both went into your parent's house thinking that they were going to be really surprised by our marriage but happy for us, because everyone knew you and I were heading in that direction anyway. What we got was a clusterfuck. I think everyone in there was hoping that your mother was just having some kind of psychological episode." There could very well be a history of mental instability in the Hale family line, he didn't know.

"If only…" They both knew that was wishful thinking.

"I've spent a lot of time thinking about why she would've reacted that way and I can never think of an answer that fits." Too many sleepless nights had been wasted on trying to figure out the way Talia Hale's mind worked and no conclusion was ever reached. "Maybe her anger had nothing to do with me or with us."

"How do you mean?"

"Maybe something else had triggered it but she took it out on us because we were easy targets?" It was the only theory that ever made a lick of sense in his mind. He didn't think Talia just woke up one morning and decided she didn't love him or want him to be a part of her son's life.

"If that were true then wouldn't she admit that she was wrong at some point?"

"When has your mother ever admitted she was wrong?" The day Talia admitted she was wrong about anything was the day Stiles dropped dead.

"That's a good point." Derek pointed out. "She hates that you're here, that Dad hired you."

"That doesn't surprise me." He kinda figured she wouldn't be happy about it any shape, way, or form.

"She thinks we'll get back together." And, okay, they were starting to reach a whole nother level of conversation that Stiles wasn't sure he was ready to have.

"And what do you think?" He had to know, he had to be sure he and Derek were on the same page.

"Your Dad said that if we jumped back into marriage that it would destroy us." His dad was more than likely right.

"I didn't ask what my dad thought. I want to know what you think."

"I think that this, what we're doing now, is easy. It feels like old times." It did feel like old times. It felt good and it felt horrible at the same time.

"This isn't…easy, because we were married, Derek. It's easy because we were friends before everything else. Before we started dating, before we even realized we liked boys, hell, before we could walk or speak we were friends." They'd been friends since birth, well, Stiles' birth, Derek was a few months older than him. "It's easy because we were friends not because we were married. Our marriage was as far from easy as something could get."

"Do you regret marrying me?" Derek asked. "Would you change it if you could?"

"I think we got married too young. I think there were a lot of factors working against us." He took a deep breath before continuing. "We didn't get married because we were in love with each other. We got married as a way to show our parents we were responsible after we got knocked up. Did I love you? More than anything. Would I have still married you had the situation been different? In a heartbeat. But…"

"But if you could go back to before, to the same situation, you wouldn't have married me." He said it with such heart-break and finality in his voice that it made Stiles want to cry.

"The way we were before didn't work, Derek, because we weren't ready for it. We weren't adults. We were just acting like we were. We were just two kids playing pretend and hoping for the best."


	7. My Former Life

Stiles and Derek decided to drive back to Beacon Hills in one car. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, though after two hours of awkward silence Stiles was ready to climb the walls. He was thankful to be driving, at least, because it gave him something to focus on beside how uncomfortable things had been the last few days.

Stiles didn't regret the things he said. It was all truth and he'd been taught at a young age to never apologize for telling the truth, even when it hurt.

"You know that just because we're in Beacon Hills it doesn't make you safe, right?" They should have discussed this before they were a few minutes away from the Hale House but neither of them seemed inclined to talk much during the trip.

"Yeah, I know." Derek sounded less than thrilled about the conversation. "I don't suppose you're going to want to stick around my parent's house for the holiday to fulfill your bodyguard duties?"

"Not a chance in hell." The last Thanksgiving he'd spent with the Hales had been a fucking disaster. "Luckily, you have a one sheriff's deputy as your sister and another one that's dating your older sister. I'm sure my dad can switch around some shifts so either Cora or Parrish can be with you. If you want to go into to town I'd be more than happy to continue my bodyguard duties."

"If I say I don't need any security while at home are you going to give me the 'your life is being threatened' speech again?" Derek joked.

"Yes I am."

"Fine." He grumbled but only half-heartedly. "What are your Thanksgiving plans, anyway? Is your Dad working?"

"No, he's finally got the day off this year." It was rare when the Sheriff took a holiday off. "It's going to be him and me, Melissa and Scott of course, and Allison and her parents are joining us as well. Dad and Melissa are hosting."

"Full house." Which was true, usually it would just be Stiles and his dad at the station. "You cooking?"

"I want to say _no_ but I can't let Melissa cook all by herself." Both Scott and his dad could burn water and the Argents were guests so they weren't exactly going to put them to work in the kitchen. "What about you, are you going to be slaving away in the kitchen with Uncle Peter?"

"Yeah, it's my turn at the gallows." Stiles couldn't help but laugh because he knew exactly what cooking with Peter was like.

The older man would stand over your shoulder the entire time and critique everything. It was the only reason the Hales each took turns preparing holiday meals with Peter. They'd tried drawing names out of a hat for a while but Laura got picked one year to prepare both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with Peter and she nearly jammed the turkey thermometer into his chest when he told her she was mixing the gravy wrong. To avoid bloodshed they all decided to switch off and take their turns.

"Well, try not to stab Peter with any cooking instruments." Stiles chuckled as he pulled up in front of the Hale house. "Here we are."

"Here we are." Derek repeated as he looked out the window and toward the house, making no move to actually leave the car.

"I know we agreed that I would keep the car for the weekend," It was Derek's car, after all, they'd flipped a coin as to whose vehicle they'd drive and Derek had won. "But I can call someone to come get me if you want to keep it with you."

"No, I'll be stuck here most of the time anyway and you have more running around to do." Which is why Stiles wanted to take his car, not Derek's, but Derek wasn't a fan of Stiles jeep, even if it wasn't the same one he had in high school.

"If I'm keeping the car then you're going to have to get out of it at some point so I can leave." He wasn't trying to be rude, he just didn't really know why Derek was hesitating.

"I know." Derek sighed heavily and put his hand on the door handle, but just as he did the front door of the house swung wide open to reveal Talia Hale. "Fuck."

"And here I was hoping to avoid this situation." Stiles was half tempted to bang his head against the steering wheel but instead opted for politeness and rolled down his window to greet the older woman, because she might hate him but he still had his manners. "Hello, Talia."

"Stiles," She nodded at him in her own greeting, it would've been nice if not for her icy tone. "Derek, planning to join us in the house sometime soon?"

"Yeah, I was just saying goodbye to Stiles." Derek sent Stiles a fleeting smile as he got out of the car.

"You can leave now, Stiles, but the car stays, you won't be needing it anymore." Stiles raised an eyebrow at that because he didn't _need_ the car. He had his own thank you very much.

"Mom, we drove up together, I told Stiles he could use the car while in town." It was nice to see Derek at least try to be a buffer between he and Talia.

"I'm sure his father or one of the McCall's can lend him a vehicle." Talia wasn't looking at Derek, no she was looking directly at Stiles as if she wanted him to challenge her. "Out of the car, Mr. Stilinski."

"Mom –"

"It's fine, Derek." Stiles turned off the car and handed the keys to Derek after he exited. "I'll call Scott to come get me."

"There's no reason for you not to have my car. We'll be driving back together anyway." Derek addressed. "Plus, it's my car and I say what happens to it."

"Derek, it's just a car. I'm not getting into a fight with your mother over it." He was firmly in the stage of ignoring Talia's presence all together at this point and focusing on his husband. "One of us has to be an adult here and obviously that's not going to be your mother so it falls to us to be mature. I will call Scott."

He walked down the driveway before Talia or Derek could respond. He pulled his cell phone out and dialed Scott's number as he heard the front door of the Hale house slam shut, presumably with both Derek and Talia behind it.

_"Hey, you in town yet? Where are you?"_ Stiles and Scott had been friends too long to use words like _Hello_ when answering the phone.

"I'm in Hell," Stiles answered knowing that his brother would know exactly where he was. "Come pick me up."

_ "On my way."_

* * *

By the time Scott picked Stiles up Stiles had made it to the 'Beacon Hills Preserve' sign. There was no way in hell that he was going to wait for him at the Hale House. He needed the walk anyway after the being cooped up in the car for two hours.

"So, how are things actually going between you and Derek?" Scott asked from his spot in the driver's seat as they headed down the highway.

"They're alright, I guess, better than expected." A lot of separated couples couldn't stand to be in the same room with each other, let alone joke around and flirt with one another. "I think he and I have talked more about our marriage now than when we were actually together."

"It is funny how that works." Scott surmised. "I sent him an invitation to the wedding. I didn't do it until after you guys started talking again. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is. He was your friends too, Scott." He knows it's his fault that Scott and Derek stopped being close. When Stiles had left Derek Scott had focused on him and Derek had gotten left behind. "It'll be good for you guys to get to know each other again, you know? He needs a friend like you."

"If he'll take me I'll be happy to be his friends again." He was being completely honest and Stiles knew it, he knew Scott had missed Derek. As kids they had been a trio, it'd always been the three of them. "On an unrelated note, did you hear what happened to Allison's aunt?"

"Kate?" Stiles hadn't seen Kate Argent since the party at Derek's. "No, what happened?"

"Someone tried to burn down her house." He informed Stiles. "It started in her living room while she was out. She got home and called the fire department before it got bad. The fire chief said it was arson. Crazy right?"

"Yeah." Especially since Paige's house had caught on fire a few days before. "Same thing happened to Paige, but she was home at the time. From what the papers said the fire started in her living room too."

"Weird."

"Maybe I should look into it." Stiles thought out loud.

"What? Why?" Scott asked as he looked at Stiles in disbelief.

"Why?" If one thing about the fires had been similar Stiles would have it go but there were several factors involved. "If once is an incident, twice is a coincidence, then three's a pattern."

"There have only been two fires." Scott pointed out.

"The fires both had the same point of origin: the living room." That's the incident. "The fact that they were both arson makes it a coincidence."

"Okay, what makes it a pattern?"

"Derek." And if anyone else figured that out it would also make him a suspect. "He dated both of them and had seen them both recently. Kate was at his house before the fire and he'd seen Paige a few weeks before the fire at her place."

"Do you think it's his stalker?" There was an edge of panic in Scott's voice that Stiles didn't understand until he voiced his fears. "If his stalker is going after the exes he's be seen with recently…wouldn't that make you a target too?"

"Yeah." If the person sending threatening letters to Derek was taking out his exes then that made Stiles just as likely to be on the hit list. "I could be wrong, though. It could just be one huge coincidence."

"Just…promise you'll be careful?" Stiles understood why Scott was scared. Scott had sat by his bed side after he'd spent a week with a psychopath. He'd seen him close to dead and didn't want to see him that way again. "I know you were hired to protect him, but make sure you protect yourself too, please?"

"Yeah, I promise." He tried to give him a reassuring smile and it obviously came off as more as a grimace if the look on Scotts face said anything. "I won't let Derek get hurt but I won't put myself in unnecessary danger either."

"That's all I ask." Scott knew that Stiles wouldn't stay out of it, but he also seemed to accept that fact that Stiles wouldn't go looking for trouble. Apparently they'd been apart too long if he thought that. "Switching to a completely different topic, Lydia and Allison picked out your tux."

"I figured as much." He was a grown man he could pick out his own damn clothes. "I just have to go in and get fitted?"

"Yeah, also it'd probably do good to go in for another fitting after the Holidays." It was a good idea considering how much food he and Scott could scarf down during Thanksgiving and Christmas. "Our metabolisms aren't what they used to be."

"Ain't that the truth." Ah the pleasures of getting older. "So, anything else you need me to do while I'm in town? I'm the reason you had to put off the wedding to begin with so I'm here to help with whatever you need."

"We weren't going to have the wedding without you." Stiles remembered a very tearful conversation between himself and the bride and groom about that while he was still in the hospital. "But, to answer your question, yes, there are a few things you could do."

"For example?"

"You could take my mom lunch today?" He said it so earnestly, like Stiles would actually say no. "Allison and I have an appointment with the florist and I'm not going to have the time to. If I don't take her something to eat she'll just end up eating from the cafeteria again."

"I will take Mama McCall a healthy lunch." God knows that she and his father ate way to much take out. "And if I have any good karma points coming my way I will only run into the in-laws that actually like me for the rest of the day."

"Well, David likes you and he's the only one that works at the hospital." That was true. "But, you know that Isaac works there, right?"

"As a nurse, right?" He could vaguely remember Derek mentioning that at some point. "Didn't he get an Art History degree and then go back to school for nursing because he couldn't figure out what to do with the Art degree?"

"Yep. So, you may not run into your in-laws but you could run into him." For someone who liked Isaac, Scott didn't seem to thrilled with the idea. "He's been kind of weird lately, avoiding me."

"Really?" Isaac use to follow Scott around like a puppy. "Is he jealous of Allison? You cannot deny that he had a thing for you in high school."

"I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed since he's been trying to woo Cora." And what the actual fuck?

"Are you kidding me?" Cora would eat him alive. "Since when does he like Cora?"

"I don't know man, a while. It's funny and sad to watch actually." Scott chuckled. "He tried to flirt with her and she kind of stared at him until he went away. But, I've noticed since Cora and your Dad got back from visiting you and Derek that he's been avoiding her to."

"Huh… weird."

* * *

Stiles had Scott drop him off at his dad's house. The older man wasn't home, he'd be working late at the station, and he'd texted Stiles earlier to let him know. He decided to cook Melissa lunch and his Dad dinner rather than going to find something pre-cooked and relatively healthy from the grocery store. Stiles had to use his father's personal car to take Melissa her lunch at the hospital. The poor pickup was rarely used and practically begging for attention when Stiles started her up.

"I know baby," Stiles patted the steering wheel and added taking the truck to get serviced to his list of things to do while in town. "He buys you and then leaves you in the garage and takes his work SUV everywhere. I'll take care of you, sweetheart, I promise."

The hospital was pretty dead when he got there, so he figured he wouldn't be taking Melissa away from much when went to the front desk. In high school he'd known nearly all the nurses because he'd shown up so many times with Scott. The woman at the desk now he had no recollection of.

"Excuse me," He put on his most winning smile because this woman looked mean. "Can you page Nurse McCall for me?"

"And who are you?"

"I'm her son." It rolled off the tongue so easily.

"You're not Scott." This chick was one second away from calling security on him for no reason at all.

"I know that." It was kind of sweet how protective this woman was of her coworkers but annoying at the same time. "I'm her other son."

"Stiles!" Melissa called out from where she was walking down the hall. "Scott didn't tell me you were in town yet."

"Well then surprise!" He hugged her tightly and sent a smirk to the woman at the desk. "I brought you dinner."

"Thank you." She snatched the bag and inhaled deeply. "And its home cooked."

"Of course it is." Like he would ever bring her takeout. "No cafeteria food for you."

"You're a good son." Okay, he may have preened a bit at that. "Come sit with me for a few minutes, I want to talk to you."

She led him to the break room where some of other nurses were having lunch, including Isaac.

"Hey, Isaac." He greeted, they may not like each other very much but, like with Talia, Stiles was determined to be polite. "How's it going?"

"Stiles…" His eyes went wide as he looked at Stiles. "I'm…uh…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm just sorry." The curly haired man stood up quickly, oblivious to the fact that he'd just dumped his lunch all over the place. "I didn't mean…it was nothing against you I swear its just….I had to. I'm sorry."

"About what?" If it was about the crap in high school then Stiles didn't see why he was getting panicky about it now. "Did Derek say something to you about – "

"I have to go. Breaks over." He was out the door before Stiles could say anything.

"I understand now why Scott said he was acting strangely." Stiles and Melissa shared a look as they took a pair of open seats. "That was weird."

"He's been acting cagey for a while." Melissa admitted. "I tried talking to him but he always finds a reason to walk away."

"Interesting." He didn't want to let himself dwell on it too long. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You and Derek."

"Oh come on…" Stiles groaned in frustration. "You know despite popular belief my life does not actually revolve around Derek."

"You're married to him. You're being paid to keep him safe. You're living in his house." She ticked off the list with her fingers. "You almost relapsed because of him."

"It wasn't because of him." He couldn't blame Derek for his own issues. "It was because of a situation that he was involved in. And I didn't almost relapse. I wanted a drink, yeah, but there are a lot of times when I want a drink that I don't have one. It's part of being an alcoholic."

"I know that." Her ex-husband was an alcoholic, she knew what they were like.

"I know that everyone always associates my alcoholism with Derek, but it's not like that." He was responsible for his own action. "I picked up the bottle, he didn't hand it to me. I know that I'm not responsible for his drinking. I know that you're all worried that I'm putting myself in the position that's going to stress me out enough to make me relapse. I just need you guys to trust me. Trust that I'm stronger than I was before."

"We do trust you. It's other people we don't trust." Melissa and his father had been good friends with Hales long before he and Scott were even born and that friendship had been lost when Talia had shunned him. "We don't know what she has against you but I know that when she found out David hired you she showed up at your father's office trying to raise hell."

"What?" He didn't know that, his father hadn't told him that. "What happened?"

"I wasn't there, I'm not sure of the details." She probably knew exactly what had happened but his father had made her promise not to tell him. "All I know is that your father shut her up pretty quick."

"I wonder how he managed that." Talia was a lawyer, she argued for a living, if his father managed to shut her up then Stiles wanted to know what the hell went down.

"Hell hath no fury on a parent protecting their child."


	8. Bad Moon Rising

Warning: Assault, but it's at the end of the chapter.  
I would like to point out now that I do not support or promote abuse, assault or violence of any kind against women, children, men or animals.

* * *

It was bright and early when Stiles stumbled downstairs Thanksgiving morning. His father was already up and in the kitchen which was surprising as hell because John Stilinski tended to stay as far away from the kitchen as humanly possible without actually leaving the house on Thanksgiving. He wasn't cooking though, thank Christ, at least that meant they weren't all going to die of food poisoning.

"I am not that bad of a cook." His father scoffed.

"Did I say that out loud?" He was sure he'd said it in his head.

"Yes, you did." Well, fuck.

"Sorry." He was barely awake and he hadn't had his coffee yet give him a break. "You're up early."

"So are you." John pointed out while handing him a cup of caffeine.

"I'm cooking today, you're not." They'd tried once, to let his dad and Scott help cooking. It didn't end well. "But, I'm glad you're up, because there's been something I've tried to talk to you about for days now."

"I've been busy." He shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't been avoided the conversation.

"You didn't tell me that Talia came to see you in your office." If Talia had something against him then fine, but she didn't need to go yell at his dad. "What did she say to you?"

"It doesn't matter, I took care of it." His father's voice was stern the way it rarely was when he was talking to Stiles. "I didn't tell you because you didn't need one more thing to stress you out."

"If Talia is trying something with you – "

"Stiles, she won't do anything to me." It sounded reassuring but Stiles was skeptical. "I'm not even sure she knows why she doesn't like you."

"Yeah, I told Derek the same thing." He was glad he wasn't the only one who thought that. "I don't understand her, you know? She used to love me and then…what did I do?"

"Nothing. It wasn't you." Stiles wanted to believe that but he didn't know if he could. "You know her reason behind everything could be something completely trivial. She started this thing with you and now she just does it because she doesn't know how to stop? I don't know, Son."

"There's a history of psychological problems in the Hale family right?" He was reaching, he knew that, but there had to be a logical reason behind Talia's madness. "I remember Peter going to Eichen house –"

"You don't know anything about Peter's stay at Eichen house." The hard edge his father's voice took had the back of hair on Stiles neck standing up. "Peter was there for psychological reasons, yes, but it's not what you're thinking. And you will not go poking around and asking about it. What happened to him was…devastating for his family. It changed them forever. I know you care about Peter, so for his sake, do not go asking questions. If he wanted you kids to know what happened then he would've told you."

"Dad – "

"Stiles, I know that you want answers about why Talia is the way she is. And I can't say a hundred percent that what happened to Peter isn't involved. But I am asking you, as your father, to let that line of thought go. Please, do not open that door. The Hale's, Peter in particular, worked really hard to move on and if you bring it up…" John's voice trailed off but Stiles got the point. His beef was with Talia, not with Peter, and he wouldn't hurt Peter if he didn't have to.

"Okay, Dad, I'll let it go." Stiles didn't let things go easily, but there was something in his father's voice that made him want to do whatever he could to keep that secret buried. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

"It's alright. I'm sorry I jumped down your throat about it, it's just – " A knock at the front door startled them both out of the conversation. "I'll get it."

"I'll do it."

He had no idea who would be at his father's front door at 7:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving. He was expecting Scott or Allison to be at the door, but he knew they wouldn't knock. It was too early for the Argents to be there. It shouldn't be too odd that a stranger was on the other side.

"Wojciech Stilinski?" The man at the door asked, or tried to, the poor bastard butchered Stiles first name.

"Yes."

"You've been served."

Stiles watched the guy walk quickly away before he turned to go back into the house. He had no idea who the hell could be serving him with papers, let alone on a holiday.

"Who was at the door?" His dad questioned when he walked back into the kitchen.

"Process server." Stiles grumbled as he opened up the manila envelope.

"On Thanksgiving?"

"I know, right?" Stiles shrugged but he froze as soon as he read the documents inside the envelope.

"Stiles, what is it?"

"A restraining order against me filed by Derek Hale." Stiles couldn't believe what he was reading until he looked further down on the page. "Oh, wait, filed on _behalf_ of Derek Hale by Talia Hale."

"I really hope you're joking." Stiles really wished he was.

"Is that even legal?" He was pretty sure it wasn't unless Talia had control of Derek's estate or something like that. "This can't be legal."

"For her to file it on behalf of Derek? No, I don't think that's legal." Unless Derek was still a minor, which he wasn't. "And even if it was legal there would have to be a court hearing before it went into effect unless there were clear signs of abuse. If there were clear signs of abuse then the order would be in effect immediately."

"So this is basically a huge abuse of power on her part?" Stiles really hoped that was true because the last thing he needed was a restraining order on his record.

"I believe so. We'll get a lawyer to check into it, just to be sure." John declared just as Stiles cellphone went off. "You're a popular person this morning."

"Don't I fucking know it..." Stiles muttered before answering his phone without looking at the caller ID. "What fresh hell are you bringing me?"

_"Stilinski, get your ass into my office ASAP."_

"Captain?" Stiles hadn't heard from his Captain since he tried to go back to work before his doctor approved. "You want me to come in today? It's Thanksgiving and I'm already having a bad day."

_ "Yeah, well, it's only going to get worse."_ The man on the other end of line sounded tired and beat down. _"Just get here as soon as you can, alright?"_

"Yeah, I'm on my way." Stiles reassured his boss before hanging up the phone. "I gotta go back to Los Angeles."

"You can take my truck." His father offered. "Let me know what's going on."

"I will. I'll try to get back tonight."

* * *

Stiles didn't know what he walking into when he entered his Captains office, but he knew that it wasn't anything good. He was glad to have at least gotten the warning. The older man sighed tiredly when Stiles took a seat across from him.

"Be glad you're talking to me and not IA yet." The _yet_ at the end of the sentence told Stiles that he would be talking to Internal Affairs eventually, great. "I know you're a good cop, Stiles, and I know that the accusations being brought against you are crap."

"What accusations?" The last time Stiles was on active duty was over three months ago so it couldn't be anything new.

"Two copies of these photos were sent to the department, one set to IA and one set to me." The Captain handed them over to him and Stiles knew exactly what was happening now. "Would you care to explain?"

"These were taken out of context." They were photos of Stiles at the party Erica and Isaac had thrown at Derek's house. In the photos he was holding the glass bong he'd thrown at the wall. Derek, Erica and Isaac were all noticeably absent from the photograph. "I had picked it up to dispose of it. From this photo you can't prove any drugs involved and it just shows me holding it, not smoking from it."

"I know, Stiles, and under normal circumstances we might ignore it but since there was also a restraining order filed against you –"

"Which is also bullshit and illegal." Stiles growled because he knew where this conversation was going. "How do you even know about that? I was just served the paperwork today."

"I received a copy of it with the photographs." Of course he did. "I don't have a choice in this, Stiles, I have to suspend you until the investigation is closed."

"Investigation." The investigation on whether he was a dirty, drug addicted, cop.

"I'm sorry, Stiles."

"Just one question," Because he had to know. "Did the person who sent those leave a name or was it anonymous?"

"They were sent to us by the District Attorney of Beacon Hills, Talia Hale."

* * *

Stiles barely had the car in park before he jumped out of it and was making his way up the steps. He didn't bother with knocking. He was too pissed off to be pleasant. He could hear everyone in the kitchen, laughing about as if nothing was happening. He could even hear Derek laugh, and that just pissed him off more.

They seemed to be gathering dishes to take into the dining area for dinner when he made his way into the kitchen. He eyed Isaac and watched the boy shrink back, obvious that Stiles knew exactly what he'd been apologizing for the other day. He saw the utter surprise on Derek's face at the fact that Stiles was in his parent's house. The surprise turned to shock when he saw the look on Stiles face. Stiles couldn't focus on Isaac's fear or his husbands worry. His focus was the woman who was destroying his life.

"Are you out of your god damn mind?" He rounded on her quickly. She didn't even flinch at his anger. "Do you think my life is one big game?"

"What's going on?" Derek's voiced hesitantly.

"You wanna keep my divorce from going through, that's fine. You wanna file bogus restraining orders in your son's name? More power to you." Those were nothing compared to what she'd done. "But my job… you don't get to touch that. That is my god damn livelihood."

"The only thing I did was make your superiors aware that along with a drinking problem there is also evidence of a drug problem." She said it so coolly, like it was cut and dry, like everything she said wasn't complete and utter bullshit.

"I'm sure Isaac was more than happy to provide the evidence of my supposed drug problem." He threw the copies of the photographs on the counter. "Did you happen to tell my Captain that those pictures were taken completely out of context at your sons house?"

"I told your Captain what he should know."

"You told my Captain bullshit and he knows it." She had to know that nothing would come from the investigation. "You know that I am damn good police officer, I've nearly lost my life in order to protect and serve. But you also know that any investigation against me, whether anything is found or not, is going to be a black mark on my records. It'll follow me throughout my career."

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." Derek was his business. Derek was his husband. "You're violating a restraining order by being here. You're only hurting yourself."

"The only person hurting me right now is you." The other Hales would be hurting him as well, for not speaking up, but they looked like they'd been hit by a freight train so he would let it go. "Stay out of my life."

"Stay away from my son." The words were like ice as they came out of her mouth. "Or your father may see himself facing a similar inquiry."

That was the exact wrong thing to say to Stiles. In the back of his mind he could hear Derek calling his name, but it sounded muffled and far away. The only thing Stiles could hear was the pounding of his own heart. He only saw the red color of anger as he moved forward. He never thought of himself as violent, except when he was drunk, but sometimes people just snap.

"Talia!" Stiles he faintly heard Peter yell at his sister in warning.

In another situation he might have been glad to have one of the Hales stand up for him in the heat of the moment, but today it didn't matter. Today, Talia had made her final play and they both knew it. You didn't use Stiles father against him because while Stiles may go to the grave to protect Derek, he would send everyone else to their graves if it meant protecting his father.

"An investigation on an LAPD detective may only leave a black mark on a record," Talia remarked. "But an investigation open on a small town country Sheriff could destroy his career."

He had Talia up against the wall. His hand was wrapped around her neck. He wasn't squeezing, he wasn't restricting her breath. It was just a threat. It was a promise that he could, if he wanted to, squeeze the life out of her.

He could feel arms pulling at him. Trying to get him away from his mother-in-law. He knew one pair of hands was Derek's. He could hear the man's pleading voice. He couldn't focus on anyone else right now. He needed Talia to understand exactly what she'd brought on herself.

"I've been around your family a long time, Talia. I know every secret. I know where all the bodies are buried." He hissed the words directly into her face, looking into her eyes the entire time. "I know the way to take you down is to take down the ones you love. You threaten my father again and nobody, not even the precious son that you're trying so hard to keep me away from, will be left standing."

He dropped the hand from around her neck. He took a step back, shrugging away the arms that held him. He didn't take his eyes off Talia, though. He knew this was the moment that would truly change everything. This was the moment where he finally cut the tie he had to the Hale family forever.

"You wanted a war, Talia. You got one."


	9. Sniffing Out Blood

Warning: References to abuse and implied sexual abuse.

* * *

Dead silence filled the Hale House as Stiles words sunk in. His time in limbo, being half in or out of the Hale family, had come to a dramatic and stuttering halt. Talia had fired her final shots, the ones she had left while Stiles had just loaded his gun. He wasn't making some idle threat when he'd said he would take down her entire family to get to her. He would ruin Derek to protect his father and she should have known that.

"Deputy Parrish," Talia didn't look anywhere but Stiles when she called for Laura's boyfriend. "Arrest him for assault and violation of a restraining order."

Stiles had almost forgotten Parrish was there. He knew Parrish was on-call tonight, it was the only reason his father had gotten the day off. He also knew that Parrish didn't have his own family to go home to for Thanksgiving so it was only natural that he'd go to his long-term girlfriend's house.

"Mom," Derek started toward his mother with his hands up in defense. "Don't, please."

"Deputy Parrish." Talia repeated and Stiles could hear his father's Deputy walk toward him.

"It's alright, Parrish." He knew Parrish didn't want to do it but he had to.

He obediently put his hands behind his back and waited for the handcuffs. He wasn't going to fight the deputy. He listened carefully as he was read his rights. He felt calm for the first time all day when he felt the metal around his wrists.

"Are all in-laws like this?" Parrish asked as he tightened the cuffs around Stiles' wrists.

"I don't know, they're the only ones I've ever had." He really fucking hoped not or else he never wished marriage on anyone.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm single then." Stiles eyes flicked toward Laura, seeing her shocked face. "I'd rather die alone then deal with people like this."

Parrish led him out of the house before any of the Hales could react further. He let himself be placed in the backseat of the patrol car, like any other arrest, because he knew Mama Hale was still watching. Stiles waited until they were on the road to the station before he spoke up.

"That was a ballsy move." He felt the need to point that out first. "I hope you realize that you just made an enemy for life."

"It's better that I got out now." Parrish admitted with sadness in his voice. "I've been shopping for rings."

"I'm sorry." He knew that Parrish loved Laura and that she loved him.

"Not your fault. You know, I'd heard people talk offhandedly about what drew you and the Hales apart, but witnessing it up close and personal…" Stiles could only imagine what it seemed like from an outsiders point of view. "As much as I love Laura, and want to make a family with her, I can't be a part of that."

"It would've been different for you." At least Stiles hoped it would be different for whoever Laura or Cora brought home, he wouldn't wish his relationship with Talia on anybody.

"It doesn't matter how they act with me. I don't agree with how they treat other people." He didn't agree with how they treated Stiles. "You mind if I ask what happened?"

"Between me and Talia?" Only the closest people to him knew the full story. The people around town liked to make educated guesses. "I'm not really sure. Derek and I showed up Thanksgiving during our sophomore year of college and told them we'd eloped. Everyone but Talia seemed really happy for us, you know? Talia, she was silent for a long time and then she just went off."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if I remember correctly the term money-grubbing whore was thrown in my direction." He was never after the Hales money and she should have known that. "There were a lot of hateful things thrown about. None of us quite understood what happened. I just knew after that night she saw me as her enemy. She thought I was out to hurt Derek or something. I would never have hurt Derek."

"Past tense." Parrish remarked. "And what you said in the house…?"

"I spent a long time being passive when it came to Talia, because she focused on me. I was trying to be the bigger person, I knew if I went after her that other people would get caught in the crossfire, and I didn't want to hurt them." Things were different now. "But, she threatened my father. That changes everything. I love Derek and Cora, and the others, but if I have to choose between them and my father, I will choose my father every time."

* * *

To say Derek was shell-shocked by what had happened was a giant understatement. He'd watched his husband walk out the front door in cuffs. He watched his mother remove herself from the room completely with his father on her heels. He moved to follow only to be stopped by his uncle.

"Come with me, now." Peter ordered before looking to the others in the kitchen. "The rest of you leave. Go have dinner somewhere else."

Derek allowed his uncle to lead him into the living room. He sat down on the couch, his head in his hands, thinking of how things got so fucked up. He could remember a time when everyone was happy. When Thanksgiving was a time they all looked forward to, now it always seemed like a fucking nightmare.

"How much do you remember about your grandfather?" Peter inquired as he sat beside Derek on the couch.

"What does he have to do with anything?" He honestly couldn't see how that was relevant to what they just witnessed.

"Just answer the question, Derek."

"Not much." His grandfather had been dead a long time, he didn't really have a chance to know him. "I remember he pretty much ignored Laura, Cora, Malia and I. He always seemed so focused on you. I remember that you um…you killed him when I was a kid."

"You were six."

"I never knew why." He remembered asking his dad once when he was little but he'd never gotten an answer.

"Do you remember the day I did it? Do you remember what made that day different?" Peter asked.

"I know it was the first day he'd ever really talked to me. I'd gotten home from school and he'd asked me to go into his study with him." It'd scared him and excited him all at once, because his grandfather had never taken an interest in him. "He said we were going to play a game and made me stand in front of him but you came in before we could start the game. You screamed at me to go to Laura and to hide somewhere. I had no idea what was going on."

"There are things that happened between your grandfather and me when I was growing up. There was a reason I didn't go to jail for what I did. I was sent to Eichen house for a few months, but it wasn't a punishment handed down by a judge."

"What happened?" In his head he already knew, it wasn't hard to deduce. He wanted to hug his uncle and tell him he was sorry for all things his grandfather did.

"I'm not going to tell you the things your grandfather did because I'm sure you're capable of figuring it out on your own. Most of the things that happened were against my will. Other things I did to make sure that he kept his interest on me and never looked to you or the girls." Peter seemed to shudder at the thought of anything happening to Derek or the girls. "The day he took you into his study is the day I knew that he wasn't going to leave you three alone anymore. I killed him so that he would never touch any of you the way he touched me."

"Uncle Peter – "

"I don't want your pity or your sorrow. I'm telling you this because you want to know why your mother is the way she is." Derek didn't completely understand how the two things were connected but he was sure he was going to find out. "I was a surprise to my parents, or a mistake, depending on how you look at it. Your grandmother died giving birth to me and by that time Talia was nearly an adult and took it upon herself to raise me, because your grandfather was broken by my mother's death."

"Did grandpa ever…" He couldn't ask, he didn't know if he could deal with if his grandfather had done the same things to his mom.

"No, he never touched your mother." That was one thing that Derek could be thankful for. "When your mother found out what he had done to me, when I finally told her after I killed him, she was furious, for the obvious reasons but also because it was something out of her control. She believed the only reason it happened at all was because our mother died, something else that was out of her control, something she couldn't stop."

"Mom has always been a control freak."

"No, she hasn't. Control wasn't an issue until she found out what happened to me. She convinced herself that if she kept everything completely under her control then nothing bad could ever happen. If things went exactly the way she needed them to then everyone she loved would be happy and safe."

"What does that have to do with her hate for Stiles?" Honestly, he could only deal with one trauma at a time. He was sorry for what happened to Peter, but it was in the past. He needed to focus on his husband.

"When you first picked up a baseball you told your parents you were going to be a famous baseball player. That is the course she set you on. She did everything she could to get you to that point."

"Yeah, I remember being sent off to baseball camp every summer." Not that he minded, it had been some of the greatest experiences of his life.

"Her plan was for you to get the best education possible and then for you to join whatever team you wanted that would take you." He'd done both those things. "She didn't care that you dated Stiles because it made you happy but marrying him was something entirely different."

"Why?"

"Because homosexual relationships and professional sport careers don't go hand in hand, Nephew." There were very few openly gay relationships in the world of professional sports. "If you'd only been dating then it would be easy to come off as if you were just friends. Getting married provided a legal document that was out there for the entire world to see."

"Marrying Stiles was always the plan. We were going to wait until after college – "

"She never would've let that happen. She would've had you wait until you retried from playing baseball before she allowed you to marry Stiles." Derek never really intended to ask his mother's permission to marry Stiles anyway. "When you married Stiles you veered off the course she set for you. It was something you took out of her control."

"It's my life, it should be my control not hers." When he was a child it was one thing for her to have control over aspects of his life but when he hit adulthood she lost that right. "If she was mad because I went against her plan then why did she attack Stiles? Why didn't she scream at me instead?"

"It was easier for her to lash out at him. It was easier to think he was taking control of your life away from her then to think of you doing it yourself." His mother hated Stiles because she was a giant control freak. Fabulous. "It was the first time in your life that you'd done something life changing without her input, her permission, or her knowledge. It scared the hell out of her."

"It doesn't make it okay."

"No, it doesn't." Peter agreed solemnly. "But neither is the fact that you just sat there and let her take her anger out on him."

"I was in shock." He and nearly everyone else in the room. "I was confused and I didn't know…"

"I know that and Stiles knows that because he's never blamed you for it. But your mother took your silence as her confirmation that it was all Stiles' idea."

"Stiles was pregnant." He'd never admitted that to anyone, not his friends and not his family. Cora had only found out by accident. "We got married to try and show everyone that we were being responsible about it. We wanted to show you guys that we loved each other and we were going to be a family."

"He lost the baby." It wasn't hard to connect the dots. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm sorry that we weren't there when you needed us to be."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You talk to your mother. You tell her how all of this makes you feel. Don't hold back." Peter stood up from the couch and looked toward the stairs Talia and David had walked up earlier. "Let go of all that anger you've held in. You need to. Let her know exactly what this has done to you."

Derek knew that the conversation between him and his mother should have happened a long time ago. It should have happened the first time she had attacked Stiles. The more he thought about it the angrier he became. By the time he reached his mother's home office he could barely keep it together.

"I need to talk to Mom," He announced as he entered the room. "Alone."

"I don't think that's a good idea." His father took a place between he and his mother.

"Go, David, it's alright." Talia reassured him. David left, albeit reluctantly, and closed the door behind himself to give Talia and Derek some semblance of privacy.

"So, let me get this straight," Derek started with a glare toward his mother. "You hate Stiles, because of something that happened to Peter, that you had no control over?"

"What are you talking about?" She looked at him in confusion.

"Uncle Peter told me what happened to him, what Grandpa did to him. He thinks that's why you are the way you are." He watched his mother as he spoke. He watched her body tense the minute he mentioned his grandfather. "He thinks you hate Stiles because, when I married him, it took the control out your hands. Does that sound about right to you?"

"You don't understand." Obviously, because if he understood he wouldn't be standing there.

"Then explain it to me."

"I don't hate Stiles." It didn't sound like a lie, but at this point he didn't think he knew his mother well enough to make that determination. "I watched that boy grow up. I could never hate him."

"Really? You have a funny way of showing it." She'd tried to ruin his life. What else but hate could motivate that kind of decision? "Do I need to remind you what you did when we told you we got married?"

"That was the biggest mistake you ever made." She shook her head in disbelief, as if she still couldn't understand why he married Stiles to begin with.

"It was never a mistake." Stiles may have his regrets about it, but regrets or not, in Derek's mind it would never be a mistake.

"He left you not even four years later, Derek." She was speaking to him as if he was a child and he hated it. "What would you call it?"

"You don't know why he left. You don't know why we got married in the first place. You made assumptions about why, and you were wrong on all counts." She'd never asked him why. She's just accepted it like she knew it was coming.

"Then tell me why."

"You don't deserve to know why." If she had wanted to know she should have talked him about it when it happened. "Peter told me that you never would've let me marry Stiles until I was retired from baseball, is that true?"

"Yes. I wanted you to have the best chance at a fulfilling career." He'd had an awesome career, if he did say so himself. "Being married to another man hurt your career, whether you think it did or not."

"I've been playing professional baseball for eight years. In what way did being married to a guy hurt that? No, don't answer that. Answer this: when the hell did you become a bigot?" He could never remember her ever being homophobic.

"I am not a bigot, Derek. I am not against gay marriage in any way. But, I don't know if you've realize, but a lot of people do not support it." He was already aware of that. He's had slurs thrown at him solely because of his sexuality. "People get hurt and killed every day because of it. I know you don't care if you got hurt but I do. I would never have been against your marriage to Stiles if the two of you had just waited until you were out of the public eye."

"How can you expect me to believe that? You attacked Stiles the day we told you we were married. You didn't explain why you were against us. You decided that he wanted our money, or the money I was going to earn in the future." The very idea that Stiles would marry anyone for money was just ridiculous. "You broke him down and tore him apart. Do you have any idea what you did to him?"

"I did not handle it the way I should have, I'm willing to admit that." Hell must be frozen over if she was admitting she was wrong.

"Oh, you went about it the wrong way? Do you regret what you did? Do you regret standing there and telling my husband that he was a whore and a gold digger?" He sure as hell regretted sitting there in shock and not protecting his husband. "Because, if you felt the least bit bad about it you would not have pulled the shit you did today."

"What happened all those years ago and what happened today are two separate things." He failed to see how.

"Please, for the love of God, tell me how they are different." He was begging now. He just wanted to get to the bottom of all their problems.

"I already told you why I attacked Stiles before. I did what I did today because I think he is the one putting you in danger and it needs to be stopped." Really, she thought the person putting him in danger was Stiles?

"You think Stiles is my stalker?" He said it incredulously.

"Yes, I do."

"You are certifiably insane. You realize that Dad is the one that hired him, yes? He grudgingly agreed because Dad preyed on his protective instincts." Stiles did not just call dad up and say _hey I hear your sons being stalked let me help. _

"He hurt you before. I know he did. I saw the bruises. It is not that big of a jump to assume he'd do it again."

"You saw the bruises? Did you see the ones I left on him? We beat the hell out of each other, Mom. He abused me. I abused him. It was a sick fucking cycle." He had no idea she'd ever seen the bruises on him, let alone if she'd seen the ones he gave his husband. "Knocking me around in a drunken fit is a hell of a lot different than threatening my life through a couple of letters."

"He's a police officer. It wouldn't be hard for him to fake evidence. He could easily find your address and send the letters. He was suspiciously absent when Paige and Kate's houses burned down. Erica and Isaac both said he was acting paranoid and erratic when they saw him. Laura said he's friends with psychotic bikers." Of course Erica, Isaac and Laura would add in their two fucking cents. "I do not trust him."

"And I don't trust you." After everything she'd done he didn't think he could ever trust her again.

"What?" Talia reared back like he'd slapped her.

"Maybe you planned the whole thing just so you can put the final nail in his coffin." It was an outlandish theory, but not one far off from hers.

"Excuse me?" Whatever hurt and surprise she'd shown at his lack of trust was quickly wiped away by anger.

"Maybe you made up the stalker, sent the letters, and convinced Dad that Stiles is the only one who could protect me. Maybe you're framing him. Maybe it was all your elaborate plan to bring him down once and for all." It sounded insane but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if it was actually true.

"That is crazy and you and I both know it."

"Not any crazier than you thinking that Stiles popped back into my life, after seven years, to be my stalker. Mom, whatever you think of Stiles I can guarantee you're wrong."

"Derek – "

"Let's go over this one last time, just so I know I have the facts straight." When he left this room he needed to be sure of the facts.

"Fine."

"You attacked Stiles, the first time, because you thought he was going to ruin my baseball career? I hate to break it to you, but I was never going to ask your permission to marry Stiles. I was just going to do it when the time came." She'd taken her control freak tendencies to an extreme level.

"Derek – "

"Just to be clear, if you wanted to jump down someone's throat about our marriage, you should have done it to me." He wished she would have taken her anger out on him; everything would've ended so differently. "You didn't have to attack him. I asked him to marry me and he accepted. He didn't force my hand. You destroyed Stiles career and threatened the Sheriff this time around because for some god awful reason you're assuming Stiles is my stalker? Even though you have no evidence to back up that conclusion, correct?"

"Sure." She agreed.

"Now that we got that sorted out let me set you straight on a few things." Things needed to be out in the open so that everyone could be on the same page. "I married Stiles in college because we found out he was pregnant. We decided to get married early as a way to show you guys that we were being responsible and that we were ready to be a family. I decided not to tell you after you went nuts on my husband, because at the time you would've used it to reaffirm your thoughts – "

"A baby – "

"I'm not finished." He barked before she could continue. "I was going to tell you that Christmas. I was hoping that you had cooled down, but Stiles was in that wreck and we lost our son."

"Oh, Derek…" She moved as if she was going to bring him into her arms but he backed up before she could.

"No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to hug me. If you wanted to comfort me then you should have been there when my husband was in the hospital, but you couldn't be bothered to show up." He needed to be comforted the day he lost his son. He needed his parents then. He didn't need, nor want, their comfort now.

"I'm sorry." She sounded honest and regretful.

"Stiles left me because he was afraid that one night we'd go too far during our fights and we'd kill one another. He left me so he could get sober and get his life back on track, and because he thought it would help me do the same. He left me to protect me. Not to hurt me." If his mother took anything from this conversation it would be that Stiles was trying to protect him.

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to apologize to you? To Stiles?"

"No, because we both know that you don't mean it. Tell me the truth, Mom." All's he wanted was the truth. He didn't want excuses, only the truth. "Did you seriously try to destroy my husband, because you believe if my life is out of your control that something bad will happen to me? That I'll be hurt or killed or whatever? Did you destroy my husband because of something that had nothing to do with him?"

"After what happened to Peter. I promised myself I would never let another member of my family get hurt in any way. I went too far with Stiles. I know that. I could never make up for that and I still don't trust him. But I did what I did because I don't want to lose you."

"You lost me anyway."


	10. This is War

They weren't at the station long when Parrish offered him the phone to make his one call. He debated calling his dad, but decided against it. He called Scott instead. He didn't tell him that he was locked up, he didn't tell him what had gone down at the Hale house. He had one question and once he got the affirmative he was more than happy to ask Parrish if he could make another call. The Deputy had agreed to a second phone call but looked increasingly confused when time ticked by and the Sheriff didn't walk into the station.

"Stiles, one of those phone calls was to your father, correct?" Parrish asked as he came to check on Stiles in his holding cell.

"No. I'm not going to ruin the holiday for everyone." It was the first Thanksgiving his father had off in a while. "I'm fine here for the night, I'll call him in the morning."

"If you didn't call your Dad then who did you call?" Stiles wanted to say a lawyer but he'd be lying.

"That would be me." Stiles whipped his head toward the voice and sure enough the man he called was standing in the doorway. "A Stilinski behind bars, can't say I'm really surprised."

"Play nice, Agent McCall," Stiles greeted the older man. "You haven't even heard what I have to say yet."

"You must be in big trouble if you're calling me." Rafael commented.

"You must really need a career boost if you accepted my call." Stiles quipped back.

"What do you want, Stiles?" Yeah, Papa McCall never did have the patience to deal with Stiles.

"I want to help you." And himself. "You want to get back on Scotts good graces. I can help you do that."

"Does Scott know about this?"

"Yes, he does. I asked his permission to use you as a resource on a case. He pointed out that you might want something in return." Both Stiles and Scott had acknowledged that the thing Rafael would want would be his son. "You help me and maybe Scott will scrounge up an invitation to his wedding, just for you."

"Melissa's okay with this?" The other man actually seemed concerned that his ex-wife might not be on board with this plan.

"Scott is a grown man who doesn't need his Mommy's permission to do things. Melissa is not part of the deal." He had to make that clear right off the bat. "She and my father are in a committed relationship, they even live together now and you will not screw that up."

"You help me form a relationship with my son, that's your part of the deal?" Stiles nodded his agreement. "And what am I doing for you?"

"You are going to help me take down Talia Hale."

* * *

When Derek left his parent's house, bags packed, he only had one destination in mind. He knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't help himself. When he knocked on the front door he expected to see the angry face of the Sheriff, not a calm and confused one.

"Derek," He was greeted with a forced smile. "I had assumed you'd be with your family tonight."

"I…I came looking for Stiles." He tried to peak around the Sheriff into the house but couldn't see anything. "He's here, right? You picked him up?"

"Picked him up from where?" Derek made a distressed noise when he realized that his father-in-law had no idea what had happened. "You look like you're about to collapse. Come in and tell me what's going on."

He let John lead him into the dining area. Everyone was sitting at the table, enjoying their meal. It was nice and normal and they all looked so happy. It was everything a holiday meal with your family should look like.

"Have a seat and tell me what's going on." John offered a chair beside his as he took his own seat. "Stiles left for LA this morning, and took my truck, so I have no idea why you'd think that I was picking him up from somewhere."

"My mom, she's the reason he was in LA." Whatever happiness was in the room quickly evaporated with that statement. "She sent pictures of him at my house to his Captain. They were completely out of context, but I guess it was enough. I don't know if they fired him, or suspended him, or whatever."

"Pictures taken out of context? I assume depicting my son doing something illegal, or about to do something illegal?" Derek nodded in answer. "That along with his shiny new restraining order – "

"I had nothing to do with that." He was quick to reassure the table. "I'm going to fix it, I promise."

"Why don't you start the fixing by telling us why you thought John had to go pick Stiles up from somewhere?" Melissa suggested in her mama bear voice.

"He came to my parents house and he and my mom got into it." He really did not want to go into details. He didn't know how much Stiles wanted them to know. "Things happened and my mom had Parrish arrest him for assault and violation of the restraining order."

"I just talked to him," Scott disclosed quickly. "It was like an hour ago. He asked me if I would be okay with him using Dad's help on a case."

"What case?"

"Taking down my mom." Derek answered. "He said he was going to. He said he was going to take down all of us to get to her."

"I suppose you came here to stop him?" Sheriff Stilinski asked with a dangerous tone in his voice.

"No." He shook his head. "I won't stop him. He's completely justified in what he's doing. I just wanted to see if he was okay."

"Right." John didn't seem inclined to believe him. "Listen, Derek, I don't know what game your playing at – "

"I'm not playing at anything." It hurt that John didn't believe him, but he could understand why. "I don't know what the hell is happening anymore. My mother is insane and Stiles is so fucking angry."

"Stiles has been angry for a long time." John pointed out with a tired sigh. "He just hides it better than most. The things your mother has done, it really hurt him."

"I know I didn't stick up for him when I should have." It was something he'd regret forever. "I wish I could have figured out why sooner but I didn't."

"Why didn't you?" Scott questioned. "Why didn't you ask your mom after the first time?"

"I tried." After Stiles had left his house he'd asked his mom to tell him. "She walked away from me and my dad told me he'd handle it."

"Yeah, your father really handled it." Melissa argued.

"I will go pick up Stiles." John announced as he stood up from his chair. "Derek, I think you should leave. You guys stay here and finish dinner. I'll see how bad things are."

* * *

Parrish moved Stiles to the interrogation room so he and Rafael could have more privacy. The Deputy was keeping close though, standing in the corner of the room watching the proceedings. Stiles didn't blame him, he'd already gotten out of his handcuffs once on the ride over in the patrol car, he probably thought Stiles was planning his escape.

"Alright, so…" Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You can get this down to an abuse of power, open and shut, and she'll lose her job, possibly her license to practice law. Why don't you just talk to a lawyer and do that?"

"Because, being a district attorney is only a job to her." She loved it, sure, but it wasn't the reason Talia Hale got up in the morning. "She destroyed my life. I want to destroy hers."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"She's played all her moves. She has nothing else to use against me. She's powerless at this point. Think of her as the King on the Chessboard." The King was protected by the pawns, knights, rooks, bishops, and the Queen. "The other pieces have to fall so that we can get to the King."

"Where do we start?" Agent McCall inquired.

"Laura." Stiles shot his head toward Parrish when he spoke. "You start with Laura."

"Parrish, I know that you got hit with a lot of information tonight, and it's got you messed up." Stiles was going to put his ass on the line, because he had nothing left to lose, he wasn't going to put Parrish on the line as well. "Breaking up with Laura was one thing, but this is different. I'm not going to put you in the position where you're going to have to hurt the woman you love."

"It's not about the break up, and it's not about the Hales, not really. It's about being a good cop. Regardless of my feelings for Laura, I should have spoken up when it happened rather than letting it be covered up." Parrish moved from his place by the door and took a seat next to McCall.

"Covered what up?"

"It was about a year ago." He swallowed hard. "Laura was pulled over for a DWI. She was never booked or processed. The officer on duty just let her go."

"Then how do you know it even happened? Did she tell you?" Parrish's word was going to mean squat in front of a judge.

"The dash cam caught it all on film." There were dashboard cameras on every patrol car. "I don't know if the officer just forgot to delete the video or if unconsciously they wanted someone to see it."

"Were you the arresting officer?" It was a smart question to ask.

"No, it wasn't me. I was at the station when it happened." He looked over at Stiles with a look on his face that just told Stiles who the officer had been.

"Cora." Parrish nodded in agreement. Cora had been the one to let Laura go. "Cora's a good person, but like Derek she's easily manipulated. Did you wipe the dash came footage?"

"No, I saved a copy." Maybe Parrish hadn't been as immune to the Hales charm as he thought. "If it happened again I was going to turn them in."

"If you want to use Laura's DWI against her then you'll be taking Cora down as well." Rafael cautioned.

"I know that."

Stiles let himself think for a moment. He tried to look past his anger and resentment. He could walk away now. He could leave and let the Hales go on as they have been. It wouldn't make a difference though. They'd never learn from their mistakes if he did nothing. Talia would never learn.

He opened his mouth to give Rafael some kind of confirmation. To tell him it was okay for Cora to be caught in the crossfire because she needed to learn too. She had to learn that she couldn't cover up her family's crimes. The door to the interrogation room swung open before he got the chance to say anything.

"Stiles," His father sighed in relief as he entered the room. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I wanted you to have a nice drama-less Thanksgiving." He didn't want to ruin the one holiday his father had off. "I was going to call you in the morning."

"Derek came by looking for you and told us the gist of what happened. You will be telling me in full detail." The tone of his father's voice left little room for argument. "Let's go, we're leaving."

"I can't just leave. I'm under arrest." He wasn't going to have his father jeopardize his career just to get him out of jail.

"You're lawyer is handling it." Stiles hadn't called a lawyer. "You can at least get out of this interrogation room. Oh and when we get home you can explain to me what you're doing with Rafael McCall."

"Yes sir."

Stiles obediently followed his father out to the bullpen. Since he was still under arrest, for assaulting the DA, he was handcuffed to the bench in front of his father's office. Parrish sat down at the desk across from him while Rafael and his Dad stood on opposite sides of him glaring at each other.

"Okay, so Talia dropped the charges." Jackson spoke as he walked toward them. "So, the assault charge is gone. I already handled the bogus restraining order, you're free to go."

"You hired Jackson as my lawyer?" He glanced at his father incredulously.

"No."

"Derek hired me." The lawyer confessed. "It's on his dime too, so whatever you need."

"No." Stiles, John, and a new female voice all answered at the same time.

"Mr. Stilinski will not be taking anything from the Hales." Victoria Argent placed herself between Stiles and Jackson. "Lawyers are expensive and Derek Hale paying for Stiles legal fees could come off as a bribe should Stiles decide to pursue criminal charges against Mrs. Hale."

"You hired Victoria Argent?" That was even more surprising than the thought of his father hiring Jackson.

"She volunteered." What the actual fuck? "She was there when Derek told us what happened."

"Derek isn't trying to bribe Stiles." Jackson seemed mildly offended on Derek's behalf. "He's trying to help his husband."

"Regardless, Mr. Stilinski already has a lawyer so you are no longer needed." She sounded so polite saying it but there was an underlying tone that told them that, if Jackson didn't listen, she would cut off his balls and feed them to him.

"Thanks anyway?" Stiles offered a small smile to the other lawyer before turning to Rafael. "I'll call you about what we talked about."

"Alright." Rafael nodded before walking away.

"Mr. Stilinski, I suggest you keep your distance from anyone with the last name Hale from now on." It sounded more like an order than a suggestion. "If they contact you, about anything, you will call me first. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." He responded as Parrish freed him from his handcuffs. "Thank you."

"I haven't done anything yet. I will be in contact about the case we're going to build against Talia Hale. Until then keep your head down and stay out of trouble." She didn't wait for any of them to respond before taking her own leave.

"Let's go home, Stiles." His father grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off the bench.

"I wanna go back to LA." He didn't want spend another minute in Beacon Hills.

"I'll drive you back in the morning." He didn't look happy about it, but at least he'd agreed. "You've been through a lot today, you need to go home, eat something, and rest. We'll leave in the morning."

"Thanks, Dad."

* * *

The last thing John Stilinski expected to see when he and Stiles stepped out of the car was David Hale standing on his front porch. He had to admit that the man looked stressed, like he'd been beaten down by everything that happened. John couldn't find it in himself to care.

"Go in the house, Stiles, get your things together." He ordered his son and was thankful he obeyed. He wasn't going to let another Hale near his kid. "What do you think you're doing here, David?"

"I wanted to speak to you and Stiles." The man's eyes followed Stiles as he walked into the house. "Melissa wouldn't let me in the house."

"Melissa is a smart woman." Melissa knew that John wouldn't want David in his house. "You're not going to speak to my son. So whatever you have to say you will say it to me."

"Talia dropped the assault charge against Stiles. She knows what she did was wrong." She's about a day late and a dollar short.

"She dropped the charges because Derek walked out on her." He wasn't the Sheriff for his looks, he could put two and two together. "He was over here earlier looking like hell warmed over."

"I know that it won't make up for anything – "

"Your wife destroyed my son's life, while the rest of you sat around and watched." When you sit back and do nothing while someone is being hurt you are guilty by association. "The only thing Stiles ever did was love Derek, and Talia saw that as a threat."

"My wife has a lot of issues. I'm not going to apologize for her, because an apology from me would mean nothing to you, and I know an apology from her would go absolutely nowhere at this point." They were way past apologies now.

"You're right. Apologies mean absolutely nothing when you and your wife were playing a shell game with my son's life." John growled at the other man. "You have no idea what he's been through. You don't know how hard he worked to get where he was after he left Derek."

"If I had known what Talia was doing I would've stopped her. I didn't know until Stiles showed up at the house in a rage." He couldn't tell if the other man was lying or not but it didn't really matter.

"I don't care that you didn't know. I don't care that you're sorry." He was a hundred and ten percent done with the Hales. "I want you and everyone else in your family, and I mean everyone, to stay away from my son."

"John – "

"No phone calls. No letters or emails. If he happens to come back to Beacon Hills to visit, and one of you spots him walking down the street, then turn around and walk the other way. The next time one of you even thinks of contact my son it better be because Derek signed the god damn divorce papers!" He was practically yelling now but he didn't give a shit at this point. "Now get the hell off my property before I arrest you for trespassing!"

* * *

Stiles heard Scott and Allison before he saw them. They entered his old bedroom and sat down on his bed just watching him. It was almost like they were gauging his reaction, seeing if he was still as angry as he was.

"What are you going to do now, Stiles?" He knew Scott wanted him to stay. Apart of him wanted to stay too. To come home and be around his family but Beacon Hills was tainted.

"I'm going back to Los Angeles." He was packing his dufflebag as he spoke. "I'll talk to IA. They'll decide whether I can return to duty. I'll try to salvage what's left of my career. I just want my life back."

"What about Derek?" Stiles sent a questioning look in his brothers direction. "Or well, the divorce? Do you think he'll sign the papers now that he isn't under Talia's thumb anymore?"

"I don't know." When it came to the divorce he'd always wanted Derek to make his own decision about it. Now, he just wanted the papers signed so he could finally be free.

"I don't really understand why Talia stopped you from getting a divorce in the first place." Allison admitted with a concerned look on her face. "I mean, she hated the fact that you were married, so she should have celebrated the divorce, right?"

"She hated that we got married not that we stayed married." He pointed out.

"Okay?" The couple didn't seem to understand the difference.

"When Derek started playing pro-ball and the media found out he was married to a guy it could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't. They loved us. We weren't at a good place in our lives then, but we could play our parts well in public." And they were damn good actors. "When I left Derek it was easy for them to say I was focusing on my career, and that's why I was out of the spotlight. It was easy for Lydia to create an image for Derek where he was this happily married man. Even when he was seen out with other people they figured nothing could be going on because I hadn't come out of the woodwork to say anything. If Derek had signed the divorce papers it would've ruined that perfectly crafted image that the media had for him."

"And Talia didn't want Derek's reputation ruined."

"Exactly."


	11. If Nothing is Safe

Stiles was exhausted during the car ride back to Los Angeles. He let his head rest on the window as he watched the scenery go by. He'd let his dad drive, he didn't trust himself in his tired state. He hadn't slept at all the night before. He spent the night watching his hands shake with the need of a drink. Neither he nor his father spoke the trip down.

When they finally reached the house part of Stiles wanted to go up to his room and crash. The other part of him knew he wouldn't sleep so there'd be no point in trying. He went to the kitchen instead, knowing his father was trailing after him. He started a pot of coffee before sitting down with his father at the breakfast nook.

"Do you want to go to a meeting tonight?" His dad asked after a few moments of silence. Stiles replied with the shake of his head. "Do you _need_ to go to a meeting?"

"A meeting isn't going to solve anything." A few months ago a meeting would've been his salvation. He could go and remember why he quit drinking.

"Will revenge?" He knew this conversation was coming. "I'm not trying to stop you from anything, Son. I just want to know what your plans are."

"It's not about revenge." Maybe some of it was, but not all of it.

"Then what's it about?"

"It's about showing Talia Hale, no, showing all the Hales, that they can't do whatever they want." Talia had destroyed him and hadn't thought about the consequences. "They need to be held accountable. They need to be punished."

"And you and Rafael are going to punish them?"

"Rafael is going to be my tool of destruction." The FBI could do more than a LAPD officer or a Sheriff's department. "His hand reaches further than mine."

"You don't want me involved." It wasn't a question. It was clear that Stiles wanted to keep his family as far away from the disaster zone as possible.

"She's already threatened you. She's cornered you in your office. I do not want her to see you as a target and if you help me that is exactly what she'll see." He wasn't about to let Talia ruin his father like she had ruined him.

"My job is just a job, Stiles. You are my son and I will go to hell and back to protect you." He knew that, of course, when it came to safety it was always his father he ran to. "If that means going toe-to-toe with Talia Hale, then I'll do it."

"I know you'll do it, but I don't want you to." His father had worked too hard to get where he was at to have that position threatened if he helped Stiles.

"David Hale is addicted to prescription medications." Stiles eyes widened in surprise at his father's omission. "He writes himself illegal scripts. He's stolen from the hospital pharmacy."

"What?" How the hell did his father even know that?

"Melissa caught him in the act once. The hospital decided to handle it internally. He's a good doctor and they didn't want to lose him," Stiles knew he was a good doctor because David had been his mother's doctor when she was sick. "But they also couldn't have him high and working on patients. They made a deal with him, if he got clean he could return to the hospital. If he didn't then they would turn him in to the medical board."

"Holy shit."

"You wanted to know how I got Talia out of my office that day she came down raising hell?" Yeah, Stiles really did want to know. "I told Talia if she didn't leave I would inform the head of the hospital that one of their top doctors was a drug addict."

"You knew he was using again?" He didn't see how his father could just let David continue working on patients if he was stoned.

"I didn't know if he was using again until I saw Talia's reaction." If David hadn't been using then she would have continued arguing with his father, she wouldn't have shut up and walked out.

"We have to tell the hospital." Stiles reached for his phone automatically but his father put a hand over his to stop him.

"I already have." Of course he had because he was the smartest man Stiles knew. "If the hospital doesn't do anything Melissa and I are going to contact the medical board ourselves."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"You're awesome."

* * *

Derek went back to his home in Los Angeles because he didn't have anywhere else to go. He couldn't go back to his parent's house, which was the last place he wanted to be. He'd thought about going to Cora's but changed his mind. He needed to get away from Beacon Hills for a while. Of course when he walked into his house he didn't expect to find Erica and Isaac on his couch.

"I'm not in the mood." He wasn't in the right mindset to deal with anyone right now. "Leave."

"Your parents are worried. You're not answering your phone." Erica actually sounded concerned when she spoke.

"I threw my phone out my car window about twenty miles outside Beacon Hills." He couldn't stand the ringing, or the vibration, after the hundredth phone call in an hour. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

"They just want to know that you're okay." The blonde pointed out unhelpfully. "They want to talk."

"I don't care what they want to know." He growled making both of his friends flinch. "I just watched my mother systematically dismantle my husband's life and then claim it was out of some protective instinct. Do you honestly think that I give two fucks about anything my parents have to say right now?"

"No." Isaac answered and just the other man speaking up had Derek up in arms again.

"I didn't think you'd have the stones to be anywhere near me after pulling the shit you did." Isaac had been one of his friends a long time. Derek would hate to lose him but he was done with everyone toxic in his life.

"I'm sorry, Derek." Isaac seemed to shrink into himself on the couch.

"You're sorry? That fixes absolutely nothing." Isaac's apology won't fix that fact that Stiles may lose his job. "You wanna tell me something? Tell me why. Did she force you to do it? Did she pay you?"

"No, she didn't pay me. She didn't force me to do anything." She had to have done something. Derek didn't want to believe his friend could do something like that out of his own volition. "She saved me from my Dad. So when she asked for my help I couldn't say no. She asked me to keep an eye on anything strange happening around you. It wasn't about Stiles specifically."

"How was Stiles confiscating a bong from someone considered strange?" He had to know the why. He needed some sort of understanding so he could sleep at night.

"He was different than the last time I saw him." The last time Isaac had seen Stiles was during college. "To me he was strange."

"Of course he was strange. He's not the same person he was seven years ago. People grow up." He can't say that for anyone in the room. "People change."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care." He didn't care about much of anything right now. "You've seen me. You know that I'm alive. Go back to my parents, like I know you will, tell them that I'm fine. But do not come back here. If I want to see you I will contact you. Until then, leave me alone."

"Derek, don't be like that." Erica stood up, as if to bring him into a hug, but he stepped away from her. "I know your upset – "

"That is the understatement of the century." He was barely containing all the anger that had built up over everything. "If you two don't leave in the next five seconds I cannot be held accountable for what I say or do."

"Derek –"

"Get out!"

* * *

Stiles and his father had spent the day talking about Stiles plan for the Hales. He'd informed is father about Laura and Cora, and how Parrish had been aware of it but swept it under the carpet as well. They'd both knew Parrish was a good officer and when things came to head they wanted him to stay on the force.

They'd talked about David's addiction some more. They wondered how the doctor could justify working on patients while stoned. He was putting his patients in danger whenever he took a pill before he went to work or while he was at work.

"It feels like everything I ever knew about the Hales has been a lie, you know?" He'd grown up with these people but he felt like he didn't know any of them at all.

"Yeah, I know." It was hard for them to match the people they were up against now, with the people they had once considered family. "Stiles, we need to talk about how far you're willing to go with this."

"What do you mean?" He thought they'd already agreed on that.

"Well, Laura is going to have to face up to her DWI. Cora and David are both going to lose their jobs." David was definitely going to lose his. Cora may have a chance on staying on the force, but small departments like theirs ran on trust. Cora couldn't be trusted if she was covering up crimes for her family. "Talia will most certainly be forced from her position as District Attorney."

"Laura will probably get a fine and probation." It really depended on the judge and if it was her first offense. "Cora, David and Talia could all avoid criminal charges if they make a deal to resign their positions. David and Talia won't be able to practice medicine or law again if it goes that way."

"What about Derek or Peter and Malia?"

"Malia wasn't there either time shit went down. I'm not blaming her for a damn thing. She was with her Mom and stepfather when everything went to hell. And she's never treated me like dirt." The only time Malia had any contact with the Hales was when she visited Peter. "I don't know what went down with Peter but from what I can gather he's been through enough."

"And Derek?" That was the question, wasn't it? "Are you willing to damage his career?"

"If I have to." Baseball meant everything to Derek. If he had to bring Derek down, to take down Talia, he'd have to do it through his career.

"Could you live with yourself if you did?" Stiles faltered at that.

"I want to hurt him." He'd never admitted that before, that was always something he kept buried. "I want to hurt him for everything that's happened."

"I know that."

"I've loved him for so long." He'd loved Derek since before he could remember. "But at the same time I hate him so much."

"You're allowed to hate him. He deserves your anger just as much as the rest of them." Ain't that the truth? "And, as much as he deserves to be punished as well, I'm worried that there's going to come a point your life where you're going to look back and wonder if you made the right decision."

"You're looking out for Derek now?"

"No, I am looking out for you. I know that Derek didn't open his mouth to defend you or to say anything when his mother attacked you." Derek's inability to stand up to his family and his friends was his biggest fault. "You said what you were doing wasn't revenge. When you look back on how you took down the Hales, you could tell yourself you're protecting the public, because you are. You're protecting them from corrupted police officer and district attorney, and you're protecting them from doctor who's not fit to be operating anymore. When you look back, and see that you destroyed Derek's career, it would just be revenge. Revenge is a dirty business, Son."

"So, what do I do? I just let Derek be free to live his life, when his family is the reason mine is over?"

"You're life isn't over, Stiles." It sure as hell felt like it was. "You do what's going to hurt Derek worse than losing his career."

"And what's that?"

"Stay away. No phone calls, emails, texts, or surprise visits. Anything to do with the divorce you send through your attorney." It seemed too simple. "You've done it before, you could do it again."

"I did it before and he was fine without me." He'd moved on pretty quickly if the tabloids were anything to go by.

"He had a family to fall back on then. He had friends there to move him along. He doesn't have any of that anymore." The only thing Derek had left was his career. "I don't want you involved with any of the Hales anymore. I should have put a stop to it a long time ago."

"It was my choice to involve myself with them again." Though he never would have if David hadn't come looking for him. "I thought I could get away with helping Derek without Talia getting involved."

"Wishful thinking, I suppose." The Sheriff muttered. "Are you going to tell me what happened at the Hale house? I want to know what the assault charge was about."

"She threatened you and I saw red. I'd never been so angry before in my life. I'd backed her up against the wall and I wrapped my hand around her neck." The shock on his father's face was evident. "Dad, you have no idea how much I wanted to tighten my hand around her throat. I wanted to squeeze until she couldn't breathe. I wanted to watch her gasp for air until she turned fucking blue. I've never felt that kind of rage before."

* * *

After Erica and Isaac had left Derek changed the alarm code on his door. He needed to make sure no one but him could get into his house for the foreseeable future. He'd unplugged the home phone after dodging eight calls from Lydia. She was, apparently, the only person who remembered he had a home phone. He checked the mail and sorted through his bills before coming across the letter.

He took a swig of whiskey before sitting down to read whatever his stalker decided to send him this time. It was always a tossup on what kind of mood his stalker had been in when they wrote. Sometimes they would depict every position they wanted to screw him in. Sometimes they wrote how they wanted to cut out his heart. Sometimes they'd describe, in excruciating detail, how they would fuck him before slitting his throat. This one said how they were soul mates and would be together forever. It wasn't unusual, most of the letters had the term soul mates written somewhere in the sex and blood.

Derek tossed the letter in with the others. He'd give it to the police to put on file if he could bring himself to care. After everything that had happened in Beacon Hills he wasn't in the frame of mind to care about his faceless stalker. If they wanted him, they would come after him. If not, then they were just words on a piece of paper.

Thinking about the stalker made him think of Stiles. Stiles who had only gotten wrapped up in his family again because of the stalker. Derek should have sent Stiles away the minute he'd found him in his kitchen. It was stupid of him to think that after seven years his mother – his family – would have left Stiles alone. He'd been so encompassed by the fact that Stiles was there, in his kitchen, with him, again, that he didn't even think of the consequences of letting him stay.

Derek's thoughts of Stiles lead him upstairs toward his room, with the bottle of whiskey in his hands. He opened the safe that he kept by his bed. It didn't hold anything that would considered valuable to anyone else, but to him it held everything. It was Stiles and it was their life together.

There were pictures of him and Stiles from every stage of life, from diapers to their university graduation. There were notes they used to pass in class, some were love notes and others were just crude jokes they'd send each other to pass the hour. There was the hospital bracelet Derek received after trying to declare his love for Stiles, via sneaking in his window, that ended with Scott braining him with a baseball bat. There was a baseball card with Derek's face on it and Stiles police academy photo.

There was a wedding certificate issued by the State of California, because they weren't cliché enough to go to Las Vegas and get married by Elvis, they'd gone to the court-house instead. There were ultrasound pictures of the son he and Stiles never got to know. There was a note that Stiles sent along with the first set of divorce papers that simply read, _Be Free._

* * *

Stiles had finally fallen asleep after his father forced a meal down his throat. His dad was currently in the guest bedroom downstairs because it'd been too late for him to drive back to Beacon Hills. Apart of Stiles thought his father just didn't want him to be alone.

When Stiles woke up it was to the sound of his fire alarm going off and his dad yelling his name from downstairs. He jumped out of bed as quickly as he could. There was smoke filling his room and he could see flames from outside his open door.

"Dad?"

The flames were everywhere. He could feel them lick at his skin as continued toward the hallway. The smoke made his lungs burn and he tried to cover his face as much as he could. He didn't know how long it'd been since the fire had started, but the damage done to his house was extensive already. The roof looked about ready to cave in on itself and the floor beneath his feet felt unstable.

"Dad!" He called out as soon as spotted him.

From the top of the stairs he could see his father through the smoky haze. He was lying on the ground, pinned by something that Stiles couldn't see properly. He was struggling to get out, still calling Stiles name in between his struggled breaths.

"Dad, I'm coming!"

He knew the stairs were dangerous but there was no other way to the bottom floor. He tried to be careful, but the sight of his father surrounded by flames had him quickening his steps. He got halfway down before the stairs collapsed from under him.


	12. Through Automatic Doors

They'd been at the hospital for hours, most of the day. It was barely one a.m. when they'd gotten the call. They'd gotten in their cars as soon as Melissa had hung up the phone. The doctors hadn't been able to tell them much when they arrived. John hadn't been breathing when he came in. Stiles heart had stopped en route and he had to be shocked back to life. They were playing the waiting game now.

Scott was pacing in the hospital waiting room. His mother had gone off to harass the hospital staff for more information. He was pretty sure she was a half hour away from putting on some scrubs sneaking behind the reception desk so she could find an update on Stiles and John. Allison was sitting in one of the chairs nearby, watching him, every once in a while he'd catch her eye and she'd send him a reassuring smile. This time, though, when he looked at her the look was one of shock rather than reassurance.

"What is it?" He stopped his pacing to go to her.

"Look." She nodded her head toward the hospital entrance just as Derek walked in.

"No." He wasn't ready to deal with Derek right now. "Keep an eye out for my mom while I deal with this."

Derek didn't seem to notice him until he'd grabbed a hold of his arm. He didn't stop to chat. He dragged the other man back out the entrance door. If they were going to argue, they would do it outside. There were people inside waiting for news on their families and he didn't want to disturb them.

"You cannot be here." He barked in Derek's face. "How did you even know he was here?"

"It's all over the news!" Of course it was. "This is the closest hospital to Stiles house, so I assumed they would bring him here."

"You're not as dumb as you seem, good for you." He knew he was being an asshole but he wasn't equipped to deal with this today. "You still have to leave."

"I just want to know if he's okay." Derek voice was pleading. He was pleading with Scott to give him any information he could.

"Is he okay? No, he's not okay, Derek." Even if he lived he wouldn't be okay. "He and his father are in there fighting for their lives right now."

"John was in the house too?"

"Yeah, he was in the house too. After everything that happened, with your psychotic family, he didn't want Stiles to be alone, so he stayed the night." Scott snapped. "Now that you know you can leave."

"Scott, I just need – "

"I don't care what you need!" He shouted his former friend. "My brother and stepfather could be dying right now. Do you know that this is the second time I've been in this position with Stiles this year? I was standing in the same hospital, only a few months ago, waiting to see if he was going to be okay. Where the hell were you then?"

"I wasn't here."

"You weren't here." Scott to a minute to really look at Derek, to see the worry clear on his face, and he felt some of the fight leave him. "I know you love him, but you can't be here. You're not allowed to be here. Your family has done enough damage to Stiles. I know you aren't your family, and I shouldn't fault you for the things they've done, but… You need to start taking responsibility for your own actions, or lack thereof, in everything that happened."

"I know that." Derek looked to the ground, ashamed.

"You need to get yourself together, man." Scott had been rooting for Stiles and Derek from the start of their relationship. It killed him to see how it all had turned out. "Even if you could go to Stiles, you shouldn't. I know that you're trying to stay away from your family, so use it as an opportunity. When Stiles left you he bettered himself. He got sober and he got healthy, both mentally and physically. He figured out what he really wanted out of life, and even if he couldn't have it all at least he was aware of it. You should use this time to get healthy, and to figure out what you want, without people whispering in your ear."

"Maybe you're right."

* * *

It was two hours later when they actually got any news about the Stilinski's and none of it could really be considered good. John had suffered a heart attack due to trauma. He had second degree burns on his back and legs, along with several broken ribs. They wouldn't say much about Stiles except that he was in surgery. The only solace Scott could find in all of it was that they were both still alive.

With the information now available to them his mother had finally stopped harassing the nurses and had gotten on the phone to call the Sheriff's office to keep them informed. Allison had gone to the cafeteria to get the three of them coffee and something quick to eat. Scott had resumed his pacing. He didn't really know what else to do.

"Scott?" He hadn't heard that voice in a long time.

"It's not a good time, Dad." He had too much on his plate right now to deal with his dad.

"I'm not here to catch up." That confused Scott, he figured his father would be here making good on his and Stiles' deal. "I'm here about the fire at Stiles house."

"What about it?" He kind of wanted to know why an FBI agent cared about a house fire.

"The fire department can't say definitively yet, but they're pretty sure it was arson." That honestly didn't surprise Scott. "You're Stiles' best friend, so I need you to tell me if Stiles has any enemies."

"Yeah, he does, a whole family of them. That's the whole reason you're even involved in Stiles life right now." He didn't want to believe the Hales would resort to arson though. "But if you're thinking maybe someone Stiles arrested came back with a score to settle, then you're going to have to ask his Captain."

"Alright, I'll do that." Rafael seemed to ignore Scotts comment about the Hales which made him a bit curious.

"How did the fire start? Do they know the point of origin?" His mind flashed back to picking Stiles up from the Hale house and telling him about the fire at Kate's house.

"They think the living room." The same place the other fires started. "Why?"

"Paige Krasikeva and Kate Argent's houses both burnt down not long ago. The last I read both of the fires started in the living room." There was confusion written on his father's face so he continued. "Stiles and the Sheriff have that thing about three – "

"Once is an incident, twice is a coincidence and three's a pattern." There was only a hint of annoyance in Rafael's voice, like he'd heard that saying a thousand times. "Why is it relevant to Stiles' house fire?"

"Well, three fires, three times the point of origin was the living room." He hesitated when he got to Derek's relationships with the victims. He knew Derek would never have set the fires, but he could be the connection that leads them to the arsonist. "And they all three were romantically involved with Derek at one point. They were all spotted with him in the weeks before the fires."

"Derek Hale?" Scott nodded in confirmation. "I'll have to bring him in for questioning."

"Are you working this case because of the deal you and Stiles made?" He just couldn't fathom why his father would bother with an arson case. "Were you waiting to see if Stiles croaked before you put the plans you two made in motion?"

"I put those plans in motion the minute I learned about fire." Rafael confessed. "And yeah, I did it because I didn't know if Stiles would survive the fire, and I wanted your friend, your brother, to get the justice he deserved when it came to the Hales."

"That doesn't explain why you're working the arson case." Not that Scott wasn't happy that the Hales were going to get what was coming to them, but when it came to his father he needed all the facts.

"I'm working the arson case because it isn't a singular case." Scott knew it wasn't a single case; he was the one who told his father that. "Stiles house wasn't the only one that went up in flames _tonight_."

* * *

Stiles fell in and out of consciousness for days. He'd open his eyes for a few seconds before drifting back off. He didn't know how long it'd taken him to become able to stay awake, for him to become aware of his surroundings. He could see the off-white colored walls and hear the heart monitor beep. He could feel the ungodly amount of pain radiating throughout his body. It was the pain that caused him to remember.

The flames climbing the walls of his house. The suffocating heat. The sound of his name being yelled by his father. The sight of his father lying helpless and pinned while the fire surrounded him.

"Dad…" He tried to shout but his throat burned and it came out as more of a gasp. "Dad!"

Panic rose in his chest at the thought of father being hurt or worse. He tried to sit up but didn't have the strength. He needed to get up, to get out of the room and to go find his father. The heart monitor screamed as a nurse rushed in.

"Mr. Stilinski, you need to calm down." She admonished before fiddling with the monitors and making them shut up. "You've been through a lot – "

"My dad," He didn't care what he'd been through. "Need my dad."

"Stiles!" Scott's voice rang through the room and suddenly he was at Stiles side. "You're awake."

"Scott, my Dad?" He could feel tears sting his eyes already. He was ready for bad news. He was ready to be told his dad was gone and wasn't coming back. "Want my dad."

"He's okay, Stiles. He's just in his own room." That didn't calm Stiles fears at all. "You've been out for weeks, dude."

"My dad?" He knew the words Scott had said to him, but when he wasn't able to see his father for himself, they didn't register properly in his mind. "Want my dad, Scott."

"You're dad is fine, I promise."

"Promise?" Scott didn't make promises he didn't keep.

"I promise." Scott repeated for him.

He calmed down little by little. Scott reached up and ran a brotherly hand through his hair, trying to soothe him. Stiles took a moment to look at his best friend. The worry and relief were evident on his face. He'd seen his brother like this before and it broke his heart that he'd put him through it again.

"Sorry, Scotty." He murmured before he fell unconscious.

* * *

Time tended to pass differently when you were in the hospital. He slept most of the day away, either because the pain medication they had him on made him drowsy, or he were just bored. He tended to wake up every fucking time a nurse or doctor entered the room to check his vitals or IVs. He slept for so long but he couldn't seem to get enough sleep.

He'd gotten to see his father once. He didn't have to sneak out of his hospital room to do it, like he thought he would. No, his father had been the one to do the sneaking in the middle of the night. Stiles had awoken to someone swearing and had been shocked to find his father standing next to his bed.

"Dad?" He couldn't begin to explain the weight that had lifted off his chest when his father looked back at him. "You okay?"

"Stubbed my toe." Stiles blanched at him because that is so not what he meant. His father seemed to get that to because he started speaking again. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Stiles, don't worry."

"Scott said it's been weeks." He'd been asleep for weeks. "If you're fine, then why do they still have you admitted?"

"Before I answer that," Stiles knew it was going to be bad just based on that statement alone. "I need you to promise me that you're going to remain calm."

"Oh fuck." You never tell someone to keep calm or to calm down. They are the worst things you can say.

"I had a minor heart attack after the fire." Stiles own heart plummeted in his chest. "But I'm fine now. They're just keeping an eye on my heart and I had a small infection and there may have been a bad reaction to some medications – "

"Jesus Christ."

"But I am okay now. I'm going to be fine. They're letting me out in a day or so." That didn't really make Stiles feel any better. "You are much worse off than I am."

"It doesn't matter if I got hurt worse than you did. It matters that you got hurt at all!" He couldn't stand the idea that his father was injured. "You nearly died because you were with me. If I had made you go home you would've been fine. But I was selfish and I wanted you to stay and you got hurt – "

"Stiles, ssh," His father tried to soothe him and Stiles hadn't even realized he'd started to cry. "It is not your fault. There was no way you could have known some lunatic was going to set your house on fire. None of this is your fault."

* * *

Stiles next visitor should have been expected. He assumed Derek would show himself at some point. Of course, he didn't expect him to look like someone kicked the crap out of him when he did show up.

"You look like death." He grumbled to Derek in lieu of hello.

"You look worse." He probably did.

"You look like someone took a two-by-four to the side of your face." There was a black and purple bruise that took up a good portion of the left side of the guys face along with a nice gash on his forehead.

"It was a baseball bat, actually." And that was too funny.

"What is it with you and baseball bats, Der?" It had to be the second time someone had wacked him over the head with one. "Was it Scotty again?"

"Kate." Seriously?

"Stalker?"

"No, the handwriting doesn't match." And there was really no reason for her to stalk him when she had access to him already. "She admitted to starting the fires at your and Paige's houses."

"Why?" He knew Kate didn't like him, but why light his house on fire?

"Jealousy, I guess." Bitch.

"Why'd she do that to your face?" The last time Stiles saw Kate he was sure she'd never do anything to damage Derek's face, she seemed to like it too much.

"She was trying to knock me unconscious." Well duh. "She was pissed that I stopped sleeping with her and I stopped taking her calls. She wanted to punish me."

"We've all been there." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice as he thought of how he'd wanted to punish Derek. "How did you get in here? I figured my Dad or Melissa would have armed guards at my door to keep all you Hales away."

"The guy on your door tonight's a fan." Of course he was. "I know I shouldn't be here. Scott told me just as much the night of the fire – "

"Scott's smarter than people take him for." Scott always seemed to know what Stiles needed. "And he's right, you shouldn't be here."

"I just needed to see that you were okay with my own two eyes." Stiles understood that, he did.

"Well my hearts still beating, so I guess you could say I'm okay." He didn't want to tell Derek the truth. He didn't want to let him in and tell him that his body was covered in burns, and that he may never regain full mobility of his left hand again, thanks to a piece of debris falling on it. "So, you can go now."

"Stiles – "

"Derek, I need you to leave." He was too damn tired to deal with any Hales today, and that included his husband. "You saw that I'm okay, that's what you wanted. Now give me what I want and walk out that door. If you don't leave I'm going to start to say some things that you're not going to want to hear."

"Such as?"

"No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to take advantage of my drug induced state." With all the meds they had him on he was surprised he hadn't started blurting things out already. "You don't get to come in here and start talk to me like everything is the same as it was. Like everything between us is okay."

"I know we're not okay, Stiles. You and I are pretty far from okay." Damn right they were. "I want us to be okay, though."

"I don't know if we can be."

"Can we at least try?"

"Not right now. The only thing I can feel when I look at you is anger, because… because I left you so I could get better. So I could be better for you and for me. And you didn't do anything." He just kept on like nothing had changed when Stiles walked out the door. "And then I'm in your life, for a month, and everything I worked for goes down the drain."

"I'm sorry."

"Apologies don't fix everything." Apologies wouldn't give him his life back. "Will you…will you just go? Just leave, please."

"Yeah, I'll go."

* * *

Stiles was still reeling from Derek's visit when Scott came back. He'd brought Stiles burgers for dinner so he wouldn't have to eat from the cafeteria but Stiles wasn't hungry. He was too pissed off to eat.

"You going to tell me what's going on?" Scott questioned as Stiles pushed the food away. "You don't say no to curly fries, something's obviously up."

"My lovely husband showed up earlier." He answered sarcastically. "Looking to patch things up."

"I told him to stay away." Scott shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, I figured he'd be back in Beacon Hills after what happened."

"You mean getting his ass handed to him by Kate?" Stiles asked. "Oh, by the way, thanks for telling me it was your future aunt that tried to kill me."

"She was only arrested two days ago, and I didn't want to stress you out or anything." He gave Stiles his best puppy dog look, as if it would stow Stiles anger. "And, no, I wasn't talking about Kate attacking Derek. I was talking about his parent's house."

"What about it?" Not that he cared what happened to the Hales.

"Their house went up in flames to, or well, almost did." How does a house almost go up in flames? "It wasn't near as bad as what happened to yours. The fire department said it started outside the house and worked its way in. The alarms went off and the fire department got there before too much damage could happen. They have to move out for a while until it's repaired but it'll only take a few weeks."

"They got off lucky." He hated to see how his house looked. "Was it Kate? Derek said she only confessed to setting the fires at my house and Paige's."

"It wasn't her, she has an alibi." Stiles raised his eyebrows in question. "She was busy lighting your house on fire."

"Oh, it was the same night then?"

"Yeah and she's got an alibi for the fire at her own house to." Which meant she either hired someone to set her house on fire to make her seem like she wasn't a suspect or there was actually another arsonist.

"Jeez, I'm asleep for a few weeks and shit hits the fan." He didn't even know exactly how many weeks had passed or what he'd missed out on. "Did I miss your wedding too?"

"About the wedding…" Oh, Stiles had heard that tone before. "It's supposed to be this Saturday – "

"You are not putting it off again." Stiles would not let him postpone it again. "I forbid it."

"You forbid it?"

"I forbid it." He repeated. "The two of you put it off once already, because I was in the hospital, I will not let you do it again."

"The doctors aren't going to let you out of the hospital for at least another two weeks." That didn't make a lick of difference to Stiles. "You're my best man – "

"My dad can stand up for you in my place." If Stiles couldn't stand next to his brother on his wedding day then his father would. "He can even read the speech I wrote for the reception, complete with sarcastic comments that aren't on the cue cards. It'll be just like I'm there."

"I'm not getting married without my best friend."

"You can and you will."


	13. How Could You Tell Me That Im Great

Derek's new contract was sitting on the coffee table. It'd been sitting there for a week. He hadn't been able to pick up a pen and sign it. If it'd been a few weeks ago he would've put his name on the dotted line without hesitation. He couldn't do that now. Sitting directly beside it was a doctor note telling him that he'd never play the same way again.

Kate had known what she was doing when she'd come into his house. She'd bashed him over the head with his own baseball bat, before taking it to his pitching arm next. She'd swung the bat at his shoulder repeatedly, until it'd dislocated, and then she'd hit it a few more times for good measure.

The doctors had said things to him like torn ligaments, and nerve damage, and a bunch of other crap he'd tuned out. He didn't need to hear it. He knew after the surgery he'd never play baseball like he did before. He could sign the contract and try, but in the end he'll only end up making his arm worse. Or he could retire from the game he loved with some dignity.

"You know quitting baseball won't actually kill you." Peter's voice boomed through the silent living room.

Derek had forgotten his uncle was there. After the fire at his parent's house, he'd gotten a hold of him to make sure everyone was okay. He may not want to be involved with his family, but he didn't want them dead. Peter had told him everyone had been fine and dandy, and then asked for a place to crash. Apparently shoving everyone in Cora's two bedroom apartment wasn't going to well. Why they didn't just get a hotel was beyond Derek.

"I know it won't." He responded after a few moments. "But it's all I have left."

"No, it's not." Well, then what did he have left? "I'm not going to say you have your family, so don't give me that dirty look."

"Sorry." Honestly, Peter's the only one he could stand to have around him. The others just reminded him of how horribly things had turned out with Stiles.

"You have Stiles – "

"No, I don't. I told you what he said at the hospital." Stiles didn't think they could even go back to being friends let alone anything more.

"He'd just been through a trauma, Derek. Kate Argent tried to kill him and his father. Before that your mother destroyed his career." Derek knew all that. "You didn't actually go into his hospital room thinking that he was going to welcome you with open arms, did you?"

"No." He wasn't that stupid.

"Do you want to get Stiles to speak to you again?" That was one of very few things that Derek did want.

"Yeah."

"Then do what he asked you to do. He told you to leave him alone so you need to respect that. Show him that you're listening to what he wants and not just what you want." He could respect Stiles wishes. "He was pissed that he got his shit together, while you kept acting like a frat boy, after he left? Well, you have all the time in the world to get your shit together now that your baseball career is over."

"And how the hell do I do that?" He grumbled choosing to let go of the comment about his career.

"I don't know, Derek, I'm your Uncle not your therapist."

* * *

"What are those?" Stiles gestured toward the files sitting in the chair beside his father.

"Nothing for you to worry about."

"Dad."

"Stiles." His father mimicked his tone of voice.

"Dad, I'm going stir crazy here. If you're working on a case I can help." It wasn't like he was a police officer or anything, geez.

"I don't want you involved in this case." If that was supposed to get Stiles to stop badgering him it didn't work.

"Just tell me a bit about the case and I'll leave you alone." It was a bold-faced lie and they both knew it.

"It's an arson case." Stiles opened his mouth to speak but is father held up a hand to stop him. "Not your house fire. That case is closed and out of my jurisdiction."

"The Hale house." Unless there'd been another fire in Beacon Hills that Stiles wasn't aware of. "You're working the Hale house fire."

"Technically Agent McCall and I are working the case." Together, fucking Hell that was going to end well.

"I'm not trying to question your judgment here," He was totally questioning his father's judgment. "Why does one fire, that barely damaged a house and didn't hurt anyone, being worked on by a county Sheriff and an FBI agent?"

"Because, details of the case match another case from Los Angeles." Okay so there would be some jurisdictional problems. "The fire at Kate Argents house."

"What details?"

"What started the fire for one. The exact same chemical compound was used in the accelerant of both fires. The fire departments arson investigator believes the both accelerants came from the same batch." The arsonist was either really smart or very stupid. "The point of origin was also the same – "

"Scott said the Hale house fire started outside." He waited for his father to nod in confirmation. "He told me before that Kate's had started in the living room, like mine and Paige's."

"The original reports wrote living room because of the damage done there but after further investigation they determined that it started outside the house." Like the Hale fire had. "There were also notes left in the mailboxes at each fire. The hand writings the same – and no you cannot see them."

"Dad!" If could stomp his feet he would've been. "You gotta give me something."

"They match the handwriting of Derek's stalker." What the fuck? "That's all you're getting."

"But – "

"If you want to talk about something we can talk about how much the nurses were gushing about you after your sponge bath earlier." Oh god…that had been an awkward experience. "I believe I overheard them saying something about an interesting tattoo placed on your right butt cheek."

"I can explain that." He could. There was a perfectly logical explanation for it. "I was young…possibly a little drunk."

"Does someone else have a similar tattoo on their butt as well?" The look on his father's face showed that he knew exactly whose ass held a tattoo just like his.

"There may be a similar tattoo on someone else, yes." Unless they'd had it removed.

* * *

After the visit with his father Stiles had physical therapy. They'd been doing it for a few days now and it wasn't getting any better. At first he'd thought that he'd like it, he'd be able to get out of his room and move around for a while. It would've been better if the pain hadn't been unbearable. The doctor decided to come in through the end of it and kick him while he was down by telling him just how bad his injuries actually were.

He had second and third degree burns along his back, neck, arms, and torso. There was nerve damage to his spine because of the fall he'd taken when the stairs collapsed. He'd had surgery when he'd come into repair his left hand after a piece of debris had fallen on top of it had shattered the bone. The doctors told him he wouldn't have full mobility in his hands or fingers when the cast came off. They'd told him that regaining full mobility was a slim chance at best with the damage done to his nerves. Only time would tell if his hand would be normal again.

Under normal circumstances it wouldn't bother him so much. He shot with his left hand, sure, but he could learn to shoot with his other hand. He wasn't completely out of the job until he thought about the pain. The doctors had told him that many people who had the same injuries had suffered from chronic pain. Stiles couldn't see chasing down a suspect only to be hit with a crippling pain in his hands or back. The most he could see himself doing was a desk job, unless he wanted to pop painkiller after painkiller while hunting down murder suspects.

"You know, I saw that same look of desperation on my nephews face this morning." Stiles head shot to the doorway where none other than Peter Hale was standing. "Desperately clinging to hope. Hoping that the doctors are wrong and you'll be fine. Hoping you can still go back to your old life."

"What are you doing here?" He would've thought Derek would show up again, he wasn't expecting Peter.

"I wanted to see how you were." The older man came to sit by the side of Stiles bed. "I'm not here for Derek or for my sister. No one knows I'm here."

"I actually believe that." Peter always seemed like the one Hale who would tell you straight out if they planned to ruin your life. He wouldn't keep a hidden agenda. "I was sorry to hear about your house."

"No you weren't." Peter smirked knowingly. "And you shouldn't be. Talia and the rest of us deserve the bad karma. You look horrible."

"You and Derek say such sweet things to me." He knew he looked like crap. He hadn't gotten a chance to look in the mirror for himself to see, in fact he was avoiding it, but he knew he looked like hell warmed over. "Speaking of Derek, why did he look desperate today?"

"He can't re-sign his contact. Well, he could but it'd only cause more damage to his arm." Stiles wasn't aware there was any damage done to Derek's arm. "Kate hit him repeatedly in the shoulder until it dislocated and then she kept on hitting."

"Jesus." Stiles had known she was nuts from the beginning. "I didn't see a cast or anything when he was here, but I wasn't paying much attention."

"He didn't want to bother you with it." Peters eyes zoomed in on Stiles own arm. The older man leaned over and ran a finger over the cast. "It looks like you have a similar injury."

"My hand, not my shoulder." It had to be fucking kismet that he and Derek's injuries were going to end their careers. "The doctors don't think I'll regain full mobility."

"You've always been good at doing things that other people think you can't." That was true. "I'm sure you'll show your doctors you're not the average patient."

"Yeah, I hope so."

"Though I'm not here for any of my troubled family members, I feel like I should say something. " Great, that's just what Stiles needed.

"I don't get your family, you know? You think I would after spending my childhood with your guys, but…" He ran a tired hand over his eyes. "Now I'm learning about all this shit and it's like I have no idea who any of you are. Talia's nuts. Laura is well on her way to becoming her mother. David's a drug addict. And Derek and Cora are both basically spineless."

"Then let me help you understand them a little better, well some of them." Peter demanded. "The kids at least, because even I can't fully understand my sister."

"Lay it on me, Uncle Peter." He may not want to be a part of their family anymore but he would like to understand them.

"Derek was always Talia's son, more than he was ever David's." Stiles understood that. He loved his mother with all his heart, but, even when she'd been alive, he'd always gravitated more toward his father. "He was always tugging on her pant leg, always asking for Mommy. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. Always begging for her attention. She'd always give it to him, too. And then, you two got older, and you had his attention. Without you it was only natural for him to drift back to his mother.

"And Laura never wanted Talia's attention. She just wanted to be with Talia. She wanted to be in Talia's space. She was always in wonder of how her mother could captivate so many people's attention. She wanted to be just like her.

"Cora, though, she never wanted Talia or David's attention. She always went her own way. She was independent, even as a child. As a baby she only cried when she was hungry. Most babies cry when they want to be held, but not Cora. She would lay in her crib wide awake just looking at the ceiling. Laura always found it a little off-putting. Derek used to go sit beside her crib and read her nursery rhymes. Just because Cora never wanted the attention doesn't mean she didn't need it. I think she allows Talia and Laura to manipulate her because of an underlying need for acceptance, whether she'd ever admit it or not.

"Broken people gravitate toward each other." Peter finished. "My family is full of broken people, myself included."

"Do you think that's what happened with Derek and me? We were two broken people who found each other?" Stiles questioned.

"No, I think you were two people who became broken together." And didn't that just break Stiles heart.

* * *

Stiles woke up later to the sound of movement in his hospital room. Normally it wouldn't phase him. Nurses and doctors came in and out of his room all the time. But this time seemed different. There was more than one person moving in his room. He was taken aback by what he saw when he opened his eyes.

There was a wire arch standing near the end of the bed, that hadn't been there when he'd fallen asleep. It was decked out with white Christmas lights and an assortment of flowers. Standing next to it was his father and Scott, both dressed in tuxedos.

"What is this?"

"Well, you didn't want Allison and I to postpone our wedding again and we weren't going to have it without you." Scott explained. "So, we brought the wedding to you."

Stiles felt tears well in his eyes as he looked his family. He didn't deserve them. They were too good for him. Scott would move his wedding from the Gardens in Beacon Hills to this cramped hospital room just so Stiles could be there and Stiles couldn't even be bothered to move back to Beacon Hills no matter how many times Scott asked him to.

"The doctor said you can't get out of bed again today, but he didn't say you can't at least wear part of tux." His father pulled out the top part of his suit. "No cummerbund though."

"How will I ever survive without my cummerbund?" He joked. "Did he say no tie too?"

"Lydia threatened death if you didn't wear the tie." Scott replied. "So, I'm going to let your Dad help you get dressed and I'm gonna check on the girls."

"Okay."

Stiles kept silent while his father untied the back of his hospital gown. He tried not to look down and see the gauze that covered his chest and wrapped around to his back. He bit his lip to keep from gasping out in pain when one of the bandages were pulled or he'd moved the wrong way while he was being dressed into his crisp white button down and suit jacket.

"You're upset." His father stated as he started in on the tie. "Talk to me, Son."

"You shouldn't have let them do this." He didn't want them to do this here. "Scott and Allison deserve the beautiful wedding that they planned. They should be outside, in the sun, surrounded by flowers, and their family and friends. They shouldn't be in this small hospital room."

"When they look back on their wedding when they get older, the location isn't going to matter." It hadn't mattered to Stiles when he married Derek but that was a different situation. "The only thing that's going to matter is the people that are there. I think if Scott had to look back on his wedding day, in twenty years, and you weren't there, it would break his heart."

Scott returned to the room before Stiles could continue the conversation with his father. Victoria, Melissa, Lydia and, surprisingly enough, Agent McCall all followed Scott in. He smiled briefly at the group, taking note of how great everyone looking in formal wear, before a soft melody started playing from the iPod sitting beside his bed.

Allison looked fucking radiant as Mr. Argent led her in. He watched as Chris handed her off to Scott with only the slightest bit of hesitation. The wedding officiant seemed to pop up out of nowhere to begin the ceremony but Stiles couldn't understand the words that were being said because his brother was getting married to the woman of his dreams. They were getting married in a crappy hospital room, but they lit the place up with their love and elegance.

"Do you have rings to exchange?" Stiles really needed to start paying attention to the ceremony.

"What are you looking at me for?" All eyes were on him. It was freaking him out. He knew he hadn't been completely focused on the ceremony, but how could he with all the emotions flying around?

"The best man holds onto the ring for the groom, idiot." Lydia chided. "You can't get out of bed, so how did you lose them?"

"I didn't lose them!" He glared in her direction before turning to his father in a panic. "Nobody gave me any rings. Did I have rings? I don't remember anyone giving me any rings."

"I may have forgotten to tell you that I put them in your jacket pocket." Scott looked more than a little sheepish at the omission. "Sorry."

"Make me feel like I'm losing my mind why don't you." He dug around in his jacket pocket before pulling out the ring. "Pretty. Nice choice, bro."

"I know, right?" Scott smiled knowing that he'd done an awesome job picking out the rings all by himself.

Stiles made sure to pay attention to the rest of the ceremony. He watched his best friend say his vows and Allison say them right back, both with tears in their eyes. He listened to them say I do and watched them kiss to seal the deal.

For the first time in a long time he was happy.


	14. Where Do I Even Start

Stiles had been back home for two weeks. And, by home, he meant his dads house, back in Beacon Hills. As much as he loved being around his family again, Beacon Hills was probably the last place he wanted to be. As it was, aside from a few doctors appointments, he hadn't left the house at all.

It wasn't that he was afraid to run into one of his many in-laws, though with his luck it'd be Talia if he did, he just didn't see the point of going anywhere. Everyone in town knew what had happened. He hated the pitying looks he would get. It was hard for him to continue to believe the he could physically heal, when everyone else had already canceled him out.

When he lived alone he was always at work, or out with Juice or Chibs. Now he was at his Dads, and he and Melissa were there and ready for him to talk, and Scott and Allison usually weren't far behind. But Stiles didn't want to talk. He didn't want to talk about his injury or his recovery. He didn't want to talk about seeing the ruins of his house when he got out of the hospital. He didn't want to talk about how it felt to hand in his badge and his gun to his Captain, the same day they cleared his name. He didn't want to talk about any of it.

Losing his job had been the hardest to deal with. He'd been working toward a career in law enforcement since he was a little kid. He'd always played cops and robbers with Scott and Derek, and he'd always be the cop. When he was younger he use to hound his dad with questions when he'd gotten off shift. His favorite day of the year was Take Your Kid to Work Day, because he would spend it at the station or on a ride along with his dad. He'd double majored in Criminal Justice and Criminal Psychology with a minor in Forensics at Berkeley because he wanted to be the absolute best at what he did. Now all his hard work was down the drain.

He knew, objectively, that there were still careers in law enforcement he could pursue, even if his disability were permanent. But it wouldn't be the same. He wouldn't be out in the field every day looking for the bad guy. He'd be stuck in a cramped office, doing paperwork, or in the forensics lab. He could do either, but it would never be like it was.

Stiles would learn to live with his disability, whether it was permanent or not. He wished he had the kind of faith in himself that Peter had in him when he visited in the hospital. He wanted to show the doctors that he wasn't the average patient, but he didn't think that was the case anymore. He knew he would probably never have complete use of his hand again and that he'd live with the chronic pain the rest of his life. The burn scars would heal with minimal scarring thanks to skin grafting but he would never forget how it felt to burn.

He wondered if having to give up his job and suffering a disability was karma for what he'd done to the Hales. When he was in the hospital Rafael had told him that Talia and David had lost their jobs. Cora was on suspension pending further investigation. Talia's old cases were being dredged up and re-investigated, they wanted to know if she's abused her power with anyone else, or if it was just to get Stiles fired. Any patient that David had worked on, that had complications, were taking things to court, looking for compensation. Stiles didn't feel a bit sorry for them, except maybe Cora, a little bit.

Two weeks and three days into his self-imposed isolation his father decided he'd had enough. He'd forced his way through Stiles barricaded door, because living with his dad made him revert back to being a teenager, and dropped a box on his desk.

"Rafael and I have come to a decision." Agent McCall and his Dad came to a decision together? The world must be ending. "You do it."

"Do what?" He probably didn't want the answer to that.

"The Hale and Argent house fires." They still hadn't solved that? "Derek's stalker."

"Don't want to." It was a bold faced lie.

"You don't know how to let a case go." Wonder who he got that from? "I know that it's eating you up inside not knowing who is after Derek, despite the fact that you may not like him very much right now. We all think that working this case will help you get some sort of closure."

"_We all?_ Who the hell is _we all_?"

"Scott, Allison, Melissa, Peter and myself." Oh, is that all? "We were all worried about you – "

"Wait a minute," He put his hand up to stop his father. "Peter Hale? How did he end up at your little meeting? Didn't you say you wanted me to have nothing to do with the Hales ever? Now Peter Hale has joined you, and the Save Stiles from Himself brigade, and I'm supposed to work the Hale fire? How is that keeping me away from the Hales?"

"Peter came to me after he went to see you in the hospital. He was concerned about your well-being. He and I had a long discussion about you and Derek, and the problems you're both facing right now." Jesus, the two of them were gossiping old ladies.

"Yeah, Derek and I are both physically disabled at the moment. If we're causing trouble for you all why don't you just put us down, like they do to animals that are hurt?" He was being a dick and he knew it. "It would solve a whole slew of issues."

"See, that right there, that's why we all got together to have a meeting. You're being an asshole." He was pretty sure his father wasn't supposed to call him an asshole. He'd tell on him to Melissa later. "And you and Derek have both apparently isolated yourselves from everyone. It's not healthy."

"And you think working this case is going to turn me around?" Highly doubtful. "I'm not a cop anymore, Dad."

"You've always been a cop. You're just not a working cop right now." What the hell was the difference? "If you don't work this case it's just going to get backlogged and Derek's stalker might not be found until it's too late."

"You're blackmailing me?" He might not be sure about the asshole thing, but he was a hundred percent sure that you weren't supposed to blackmail your own offspring. "And why haven't you and Rafael figured it out yet?"

"The LAPD have the stalker case." Understandable with jurisdiction and all. "And both McCall and I have more pressing cases to deal with then two house fires that didn't hurt anybody. You need something to do, so do this. Everything you need is in that box."

His father walked out of the room before he could argue further. He knew his dad was right. It was hard to let a case go. But at the same time, the last thing he wanted to do was involve himself in the Hale case. Derek's stalker was one thing, he'd committed to helping Derek when he'd agreed to be his bodyguard. The Hales and Argents though? He wanted nothing to do with it. Talia Hale had tried to destroy his career while Kate Argent had succeeded. Of course the arsonist had to be the stalker, which involved him in both cases.

The box his dad had left did contain everything he'd need, which meant if he was lucky he wouldn't have to leave his bedroom to go searching for information. There files from the arson investigator, along with pictures of the damage and witness statements. There was a file filled with letters from Derek's stalker, some of them Stiles had read previously, and others were new, including the two notes left in Kate's and the Hales mailboxes. Stiles settled in at his desk to get to work on the case.

Stiles settled down at his desk to work on the case. If he took a few swigs out of the bottle of whiskey he'd stashed in the bottom drawer of his desk while he was working, then it didn't matter, because no one was around to see it.

* * *

"Get up." Peter demanded as he entered Derek's bedroom. "Take that as an order not a question."

"I don't take orders from you." Derek replied rather petulantly. "Or anyone, for that matter."

"You have a press conference in a few hours. You need to get up and get ready." Derek really didn't want to be reminded of the press conference. "If you want to go out with some dignity, you cannot go out in your sweatpants."

"Screw my dignity and screw the press conference." The press conference would be him telling the world that he was done with baseball. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, for fucks sake." Peter growled before pulling out his cellphone and dialing.

_ "What?"_

"I need a favor."

_"You need a favor?"_ Stiles snorted on the other line. _"Is this about the little meeting you and my Dad had because Derek and I are being dicks?"_

"Yes." Peter replied shortly. "Derek won't go to the press conference. He's being a child. Say something to him."

"Hello?" Derek said into the phone after it was forcibly placed against his ear.

_"Suck it up, Buttercup."_

"Stiles?"

_"If I can hand in my badge and gun, with no tears, then you can get your ass dressed, and tell your fans you're retiring."_ Stiles declared. _"Actually, on second thought, shed a few tears, the middle-aged moms will love it."_

"You sound funny." He pointed out, choosing to ignore the comment about the tears. "And I thought you weren't talking to me."

_ "I didn't have much of a choice, did I?"_ Stiles grumbled. _"Half the time our families are trying to keep us apart, and half the time they're forcing us together. What the hell, right?"_

"Have you been drinking?" It'd been a long time since Derek had been around a drunk Stiles. But, since he'd spent the last few years of their marriage intoxicated, it was hard to forget. "What the fuck, Stiles?"

_"Of course I haven't been drinking, idiot."_ The slight slur in his voice told Derek a different story. _"Why would I possibly start drinking again? I mean I have so much going for me right now, huh?"_

"Stiles – "

_"Shut up, Derek."_ And yeah, Stiles got short-tempered when he drank. _"Be a man and go to your god damn press conference. It won't kill you. If it makes you feel better I'll even watch it on ESPN."_

"What would make me feel better is if you'd pour whatever it is your drinking down the drain and go to a meeting." Derek waved off Peter's questioning look as he tried to focus on Stiles. "Would you do that for me?"

_ "No. I got sober last time for you, because I hurt you."_ Stiles voice started to shake. _"I got sober so I could continue my career and so I could enjoy life. Now all of that is gone. My sobriety doesn't fucking matter anymore. I will do one thing for you though, okay?"_

"No. Not okay."

_"I'll find your stalker, because I'm reading these letters, and this guy or gal is about ten pounds of psycho in a five-pound bag."_ Derek had no idea why Stiles would be working that case to begin with. _"I'll find your stalker for you, and I'll have another drink for me." _

"Stiles –" The click of the phone signaled the end of the conversation. "Shit, I have to call John."

"Is Stiles drinking again?" Peter inquired in a soft voice.

"Yes."

"I will call the Sheriff. You get ready for your press conference."

* * *

Stiles did as he told Derek he would and watched press conference. If he had a few drinks while he watched his husband say goodbye to his career. then that was between him, his bottle, and his liver. It was actually pretty heartbreaking to watch Derek give up baseball. He'd spent a lifetime watching Derek fall in love with the game, and now he was watching him leave it behind.

When the press conference was over Stiles went back to the case. He'd read every letter and note the person had sent. Stiles figured it was a woman from the style of the writing and apparently whoever the Hales had looking into the stalker determined the same thing. The way she wrote made it seem like she'd met Derek before, which was highly probable. She'd probably followed him around if she knew his home address and the address to his parent's house.

She seemed to wax poetic about Derek's physique and his propensity for doing charity work. She seemed to talk about one event in particular, one where Derek had spent the week coaching sick kids. Stiles made a note to check the list of charity events Derek had attended before the letters started.

The pictures of the fire were hard to look at, especially after seeing the damage done to his own house. The fire did more to Kate's house than the Hales. The letters left in the mailboxes told Stiles that the stalker didn't want to kill Kate or the Hales. She just wanted to warn them. She wanted to warn Kate to back off of Derek, because they belonged together. She wanted to warn the Hales not to hurt Derek, like they obviously had. If she hadn't been sending Derek some sick and twisted letters, Stiles might have want to buy this chick a drink.

It was the pictures the media took that rendered any results for Stiles. They'd taken pictures of the bystanders watching the firefighters put out the flames. It took him a few minutes of staring to figure out the connection in the photographs.

"Holy shit." He exclaimed aloud to himself as he looked back and forth between the pictures. "That's – "

"Stiles!" His dad yelled as he barged into the bedroom. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

"I know who the stalker is?" He offered but he was pretty sure that's not what his father wanted to know. "Well I don't have a name but I know what she looks like."

"Don't get smart with me." Stiles cringed at the tone his father was taking. "Are you drinking again?"

"Fucking Derek." He turned away from his father and back toward the papers. "It's fine. It's under control."

"Was it under control last time?" No, actually it wasn't under control last time.

"No, but this isn't like last time." It was an entirely different situation now. "Plus, it's not like I'm three sheets to the wind or anything. I've had a bit to drink, I'll admit, but I'm a functioning alcoholic."

"It doesn't matter, Stiles. You've worked so hard to get sober – "

"I've worked hard for a lot of things I don't have anymore." Stiles snapped at his father. "Now, are you going to listen to what I have to say about Derek's stalker or not?"

"I'll listen if you promise me something first?" Stiles sighed heavily before nodding his head in commitment. "That you'll go stop drinking. I don't just mean for the night. I mean permanently."

"Why?" What was the point?

"Because, you're destroying yourself. I know things have been hard and you've lost a lot." John took a seat beside his son. "You still have so much, Stiles. I know they tell you to get sober for you, hell that's exactly what I told Derek to do, but I need you to get sober for me. Because, I need my son, and this is going to end up killing you."

"Dad – "

"How long have you been drinking again?" He really didn't want to answer that. "Tell me."

"I went out and bought a bottle after my physical therapy appointment last week." Two days after he'd gotten back to Beacon Hills.

"And how many bottles have you bought since then?"

"Every time I've gone out on my own I've come back with a bottle." He went to every appointment alone, taking the bus or walking, because he didn't want anyone to know he was buying alcohol on the way back.

"You were hiding it, because you know that you shouldn't be doing it. You know it's a problem." Maybe he didn't want to listen to everyone spout facts about alcoholism at him. "I will listen to what you have to say about Derek's stalker, if you promise me that you'll get sober. If you can't get sober for yourself then do it for me."

"I can't promise that." He couldn't lie. He hated lying to his dad. "I can't promise that I won't slip up. I can promise that I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking. You know that I'm here to help you. You have me, you have Scott, Allison, and Melissa." Stiles knew that. "Now, show me what you have on the case."

"This woman," He pointed to the picture taken outside the Hale house. "Do you know who that is?"

"Yeah, that's Jennifer Blake, she's a teacher at the high school." So she was a local. "I think she lives out in the preserve too, not far from the Hale house. Why?"

"She was outside the fire at Kate's house to." He showed his father the other picture. "Being outside the Hale house could be understandable, she lives close. Why would she be in Los Angeles outside Kate's house?"

"Maybe she's a friend of Kate's?" Stiles doubted that and it sounded like his father did to.

"I'm going to send both pictures to some friends at the fire department and the LAPD, maybe one of them interviewed her." He knew they'd take statements of people who witnessed the fire, but there wasn't a Jennifer Blake on the list of witnesses to the Argent fire. "If they didn't interview her themselves I'll go talk to her."

"I will go talk to her." His father stared him down. "I'm the Sheriff and the Hale fire is my case."

"Fine." Stiles rolled his eyes sarcastically. "You interview her if I can't find out anything else. You think the pictures are enough to get a warrant for a writing sample at least?"

"I'll ask the new District Attorney." John took both the photos from Stiles. "Remember our deal."

"Yeah."


	15. Until We Bleed

"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!" Stiles shouted as the Hales entered their house. He was in the kitchen, because everything happened in the fucking kitchen. "So glad you all could join me in such a timely fashion."

"Are you drunk?" Derek questioned with worry in his voice.

"I may have had a few drinks, but I am not drunk." Not yet. "Now – "

"What the hell, Stiles?" Oh now Derek was pissed. "Why would you- "

"Didn't we go over this on the phone the other day? Why do you think?" Stiles held up his injured hand. "I lost my home. I lost my career – which was already in the crapper thanks to your lovely fucking mother. Thank you for that, Talia, really, I fucking appreciate being set up and then having my father threatened."

"Stiles," Talia's voice was calm and not that deathly calm she usually used either, no, this was the calm she used when trying to get Peter in line. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? You ruined my fucking life! You're sorry can be shoved right back up your ass!" He yelled in frustration. "You're sorry, Jesus, there is something truly wrong with you if you thought that was going to make a difference."

"If you won't accept my apology, and I didn't think you would, why don't you tell us why you've invited us all here?"

"Because, it's the scene of the crime, and I thought why not solve a crime at the scene of a crime? I mean, technically, I solved the crime at my dad's house but you get the idea." Stiles rambled as he pulled a flask from his pocket and went to take a swig when it was ripped from his hands. "Hey!"

"No!" Derek pointed a finger in his face. "You are not doing this."

"You think taking away my flask is going to bring back my sobriety?" His five years was already down the fucking drain. "Give it back!"

"Or, what?"

"Or, I won't tell you who your stalker is!" It wasn't a complete lie. "Now, give it back."

"Stop acting like a child." Derek growled at him. "You look like hell. When's the last time you ate or slept?"

"I don't know a day or two ago. I didn't have time to do either I was trying to catch the person trying to kill you!" Stiles yelled back at him. "Do you want to know why?"

"I'd love to." Stiles obviously wasn't getting his flask back.

"So I could prove to your mother," He pointed at Talia. "That no matter what she does, in the end I will still be there if you need me. I have no god damn clue as to why, but I just can't not help you if you need me."

"Love..." Peter pointed out unhelpfully.

"Oh, screw love. Love is the reason I'm in this mess to begin with." And by mess he meant this particular family. "Now give me the flask back."

"No." Derek declared again. "I'm going to drive you to your dads house, I don't even want to know how you got here –"

"I didn't drink and drive, that's your family's shtick." He tossed a look toward Laura. "I didn't start drinking until after I got here. And you're not driving me anywhere. Now, that is my property, so give it back!"

Derek and Stiles tussle over the flask until Derek has Stiles back against his front and is pinning his arms down. Stiles struggles uselessly, his body not having the proper nutrients to produce energy. Still, he tried elbowing and kicking at Derek until they're both on the floor.

"Why won't you just let me go?" He yells as he tries to free his arms. "Keep the stupid flask. Just let me go!"

"Not letting you go."

Suddenly it was an entirely different conversation. Stiles didn't want to think about the implications in Derek's voice. Derek wasn't talking about the flask. He was talking about Stiles. He wasn't going to let Stiles go. He didn't know how to feel about that. An overwhelming since of anticipation and dread filled his head and made him fight more.

"Let go of me, please." His body didn't have any real fight in it to begin with and what little he had was drained out of him. "Please, Der."

"No." Derek's moved to hold Stiles thin wrists between one of his bulky hands. He had one leg wrapped over Stiles' to keep him firmly on his lap. "I'm going to help you."

"You can't help me." Nobody could help him. "There's nothing left to help. I don't have anything…"

"You have your Dad and Melissa, Allison and Scott," Stiles didn't know when the tears started pouring down his cheeks or when Derek had started rocking their bodies slowly. "You have me."

"Not mine." He turned to bury his head in Derek's neck, trying to hide himself from the other people still in the room. "She'll never let you be mine."

* * *

Derek couldn't say when pinning Stiles' turned into cradling him. He didn't know when Stiles soft cries turned into sobs. He wasn't sure how long he'd sat there with his husband in his arms until the other man had cried himself to sleep.

"Derek, maybe you should take him home." Peter suggested in a low voice so he didn't wake Stiles.

"Yeah, I will."

It took some maneuvering to stand up with Stiles still in his arms, but he'd somehow managed it without disturbing him. He could probably blame the ease on how much weight Stiles had lost. It was obvious that he hadn't been eating the way he should. Some of it could be attributed to his time in the hospital and shitty hospital food, but it couldn't take all the blame.

Stiles slept through the car ride back to his house. He slept through Derek rifling through his jeans to find his house keys. He didn't stir at all during the trek up the stairs, or when Derek laid him gently on his childhood bed. Derek took off his shoes and stripped him down to his boxers and a t-shirt before covering him up.

He could remember Stiles being like this before, sans the drunkenness. He'd find a mystery he had to solve and he'd obsess over it until he found a probable conclusion. His walls would be covered in information he'd gathered, just like they were now. He would dive so deep into it that he'd forget to eat and sleep or bathe until someone forced him to.

Before, it'd always been because of one of the Sheriff's cases that were giving him trouble. Stiles would make copies of the files, even though he was too young to see them, and not allowed anywhere near them. Or, it would be because someone had played a prank on one of their friends and he was determined to find the culprit. This time it was because of him.

"Maybe you and I should have another talk." The Sheriff spoke from the doorway.

"Okay."

He took one last look at Stiles before leaving something on his desk and following the Sheriff out. John lead him into the dining room where he had the case file laid out. They each took their own seats and sat in silence before John began to speak.

"He's going to get help, he promised me." They both knew Stiles would never break a promise to the Sheriff, find a way around it, sure, but never break it. "I should have seen it when he started drinking again, but I didn't. I thought he was just…after the fire…"

"It's not your fault." It what Stiles would say and it's something Derek wholeheartedly agreed with. "He's a good actor when he has something to hide."

"It's what made him such a good undercover cop." Derek had no doubt about that. "He would've brought down that asshole on his last case if his partner hadn't sold him out."

"It was his partner?" He hadn't known that. "He told me it was just another cop."

"It's easier for him to think that. It's easier to believe that it was someone he didn't really know, rather than someone he'd come up the ranks with." John disclosed. "He'd gotten obsessive then to. He spent so much time trying to figure out the why. Why did his partner turn on him?"

"Did he ever figure it out?"

"No. Your Dad ended up on his doorstep offering him something new to obsess over." So, Stiles had been in a state of obsession for months. "Rafael McCall arrested your stalker this afternoon. I would have, but none of us wanted some conflict of interest crap flaring up because you're my son-in-law."

"That's why Stiles gathered us all at my parent's house." The look on Johns face told Derek that he hadn't known about that. "He was going to tell us who it was."

"Was going to? As in he didn't?"

"He didn't really get around to it. I kind of jumped down his throat about his drinking." Not that he regretted it, but he knew there was probably something he could have done differently.

"I appreciate you having Peter call me the other day to let me know he'd fallen off the wagon." Derek would've made the call himself if Peter hadn't taken the phone. "I don't want to talk about Stiles drinking right now. He's going to get help so you don't have to worry. Let's talk about your stalker, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Her names Jennifer Blake." John placed a photograph of the woman on the table. "She works at Beacon Hills High School as an English teacher. Do you know her?"

"Yeah." He'd met her before. "I did a charity thing at the high school for the kids in town. We talked or a bit and um we went out on a date."

"I hate to be an asshole but," John started chuckling softly to himself. "Do you know what your tombstones going to read?"

"I don't think I want to know."

"Here lies Derek Hale: He dated a lot of psychos." Derek rolled his eyes dramatically at the joke.

"You wonder who Stiles gets it from." He was pretty sure that the Sheriff liked to blame Claudia for Stiles sick sense of humor.

"Anyway," John seemed to get a hold of himself enough to place two more photos down. "These are from the fire at your parent's house and the fire at Kate Argents house."

"She was at both scenes?" That was incredibly stupid.

"Yeah and Stiles friend at the LAPD took her statement about the Argent fire but she gave a fake name, Julia Bacari." John handed over the witness statements. "Stiles emailed the pictures around and they got back to him when they figured out who she was. We also got a warrant for a handwriting sample and they matched."

"So it's open and shut?" He fucking hoped it would be.

"The new DA thinks that she'll take a deal. But the defense could argue that she's mentally unsound." Derek really didn't care what happened to her as long as she stayed far away from him and the people he cared about. "If she happens to make bail she will not legally allowed to contact you in any way, whether it is through a letter or phone call or a visit."

"Good." Hopefully she wouldn't make bail. "Thank you."

"Thank Stiles. He's the one who figured it out." He knew Stiles well enough to know he wouldn't accept a thank you.

"Is Stiles going to be okay?" He had to know.

"Stiles has had more than his fair share of damage done to him in the last few months. The relapse is a product of it. It's going to take some time but he will be okay again." Derek hoped so. "And you?"

"Me?" He wasn't sure why the Sheriff was asking. "I'm figuring things out. Scott and Peter sort of gave me some advice and I'm trying to determine how to follow it without losing everything else."

"I'm sure you'll find a way." He was glad to have the Sheriff's support on that. "Just do me a favor?"

"Okay?"

"Let him go." Stiles had begged him for the same thing earlier. "Let him go so you can both heal."

"I don't know how to let Stiles go." Even when they were separated he always felt like he had a piece of Stiles with him.

"I'm not saying let him go forever." Derek wasn't sure he could ever promise that. "I'm saying let him go for now."

"I can't promise that, not yet." He couldn't just say okay because life didn't work that way. "I'll try, though. I'll try to."

* * *

When Stiles woke up it was dark outside. It'd been morning when he was at the Hale house. He'd slept the day away. His face was tight with dried tears. His head was pounding from the combination of the hangover and his breakdown from earlier. He wanted nothing more than to take a few aspirin and sleep through the rest of the night but he knew it wouldn't be allowed.

He'd solved the case and now he'd have to make good on his part of the deal. He'd promised his father he would sober up. He still didn't see the point but a promise was a promise and he wouldn't break one he'd made to his father. He shot off a quick text before getting out of bed and putting his clothes back on. He was ready to make his way out of the room and down the stairs when something caught his eye.

There was a picture staring at Stiles from his desk. It hadn't been there the last time he'd been in his childhood room. It's a picture of him and his mom. They were at the park and they were smiling. You can see Scott and Derek clearly in the background playing on the jungle gym. It was the same picture Stiles had hanging in his living room at his house. It was the same picture that burned up with the house.

Two other people had a copy of that photo. One was his dad, and it wasn't his because Stiles had just seen it sitting on the mantle above the fireplace that morning. The other person was Derek, because he'd taken the copies of their childhood photos from his parent's house when they left for college. Derek had left him a copy of the picture he'd loved the most.

Stiles handled the photo with care as he placed it in his wallet, the only place he could think that it would be safe. He grabbed the duffel bag he'd packed that morning and walked out of the room. He found his father sitting in the living room. There was nothing on, it was completely silent, almost like his father was waiting for him.

"Why do you have a bag?" His father asked him. "Going somewhere?"

"It was the deal, right?"

"No, it wasn't." His dad actually seemed angry that Stiles thought it was. "I wanted you to stop drinking again, not leave."

"I'm not leaving so I can keep drinking." He was offended that his dad assumed that was what he was doing. "I'm going back to rehab."

"You don't have to do that, Stiles. You can stay here and I can help you." John was up and out of his chair, standing in front of Stiles. "You're not as bad off as you were the first time. You don't have to go."

"I don't trust myself to get sober here." It wasn't that he thought his father couldn't help him. He just didn't think he could accept the help. "I had some many false starts last time I tried to go cold turkey here. It's nothing you did or didn't do, either. It's all me."

"I want to help you." His father argued as he wrapped Stiles in a hug.

"I know you do. But you can't." He held tightly to his Dad. "I have to help myself and to do that I have to go back to rehab. I know I fucked up but I'm trying to get better before it gets worse. I'm trying to be smarter about it this time."

"I'm proud of you." Stiles couldn't help the whine that he let out at his father's omission. "I love you, Son."

"I love you too."

"I'll drive you, okay?" John pulled back and made a grab for Stiles back only for Stiles to step away from him.

"Actually, I already called someone for a ride." He wouldn't make his father go through the ordeal of dropping him off at rehab twice.

"Who?" His Dad asked incredulously as the front door opened.

"Hey, am I interrupting?" Allison asked nervously from the front door.

"No, we were just saying our goodbyes." Stiles smiled softly. "Allison's going to give me a ride, Dad."

"I don't know why but I'm sure you have a reason." His father replied. "Be good. I'll come visit you when I'm allowed."

"Okay."

* * *

He and Allison were almost to the end of their trip before she started to fidget. He knew she was confused. He knew she was wondering why he chose her instead of his Dad or Scott. She kept shooting him looks like she wanted to ask but didn't know how.

"I need you to look after Scott." He knew she would, he knew he didn't have to ask. "That's why I had you drive me."

"I don't understand."

"Scott had a habit of trying to take care of everyone." It wasn't a flaw until it ended up hurting Scott. "The last time I was in rehab he'd come to visit and he'd look so tired and stressed. I knew it was because he was taking care of my dad and his mom. I know you took care of him then."

"I tried to." Scott had been looking after her too. "He didn't make it easy. I'll take care of him better this time. I'll help take care of John and Melissa too. You don't have to worry."

"I always worry. You need to take care of yourself to, you know? Everyone always forgets to take care of themselves." He acknowledged as he watched her pull into the parking lot of the treatment facility. "I'm sorry I'm putting you all through this again."

"Don't be, okay? You've been through a lot lately and you had to find an outlet somewhere." Allison said as she parked the car. "Did it have to be alcohol? No, it didn't. But no one is faulting you for slipping. We all love you and want you to get better."

"I love you guys too." He leaned over the console and gave her a thank you kiss. "Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime."


	16. You Are Not Alone In This

Rehab and Stiles were old friends or arch nemeses, depending on the day. After detox things got a little better. Of course then there was therapy, both group and one-on-one. The last time he'd done this he'd felt like he'd fallen into Hell. He still felt that way this time.

They had a rule at the facility that you weren't allowed to use the phone or have visitors until your detox was over. Stiles knew he should have called his dad, but there was someone else he needed to call first. Juice had been with him through his first round of rehab. They'd been roommates and became friends easily. If he fell off the wagon, he felt like he should tell the other man.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, it's me." He felt like an idiot saying it that way because Juice knew his voice so well.

_"Stiles, how are you? I haven't heard from you in a while. I called your dad but he said you'd call us. What's going on?"_

"I'm um…I slipped." The sharp inhale of breath that Stiles heard from the other line let Stiles know that Juice understood what he meant. "I'm back in rehab."

_ "I'm sorry."_ If anyone could understand the implications of a relapse it was Juice. _"Do you need me? I can be there in an hour."_

"It's a two-hour drive." Stiles reminded him.

_"Not the way I drive."_

_ "_I'd love to see you." Apart of him wanted to say no. He didn't want anyone to see him in here. "But, you don't have to come. I'll be fine."

_ "It doesn't matter if you'll be fine, Man. It's about us being there for you if you need it."_ Stiles hadn't allowed him to be there for him over the last few weeks. _"I know a lot of shit has gone down and that we should have beaten down your door to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry that we didn't."_

"It's not your fault. I had enough people at my door, you know?" He had his father and everyone else. "Honestly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner."

_ "You are stronger than you think you are."_ Everyone kept saying that. _"You're going to get through this. I believe in you. Chibs believes in you. You're family believes in you. We're all here for you. Okay?"_

"Yeah." Stiles swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat. "Thanks."

_"Don't thank me. Just call me when you need me, okay?"_ Stiles grunted out an affirmative. _"Will they let you have visitors yet?"_

"Yeah, I can, but I don't think I'm up for it today." He wanted to see Juice and Chibs but he couldn't deal with it today. "How about tomorrow? Could you guys come up tomorrow?"

_"You got it. We'll bring a care package from Gemma too."_ He and Juice used to split the care packages Gemma would send for him during their time in rehab._ "I'm proud of you, Man. You saw that you had a problem and you handled it. I'm really proud of you."_

"Everyone keeps saying that." He wasn't proud. He had nothing to be proud of.

_"We keep saying it because it's true."_

"Hey, I have therapy in a few minutes so I'm going to have to let you go." His counselor would probably be happy that Stiles was at least talking to another human being. He'd kept to himself since he'd arrived.

_"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."_

"Love you too."

* * *

Derek sat by himself at the diner. He'd intended to leave for Los Angeles that afternoon but he'd gotten a call from Scott asking to meet. They'd chosen the diner as neutral ground. They both used to come to this diner with Stiles growing up. It meant something to both of them.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Scott announced his presence as he slid into the seat across from Derek. "Have you ordered yet?"

"I'm going to stick with coffee." He sighed as Scott raised a confused eyebrow. Ordering just a drink usually meant you wanted to make a quick exit. "I'm not very hungry."

"I understand." He smiled softly at Derek. "I wanted to talk to you about some things."

"I garnered that from the phone call." He didn't mean to sound like a smart ass, it just came out that way. "I assume it's about Stiles."

"Some of it." Derek had been having a lot of discussions about Stiles lately. "Allison drove him to rehab last week."

"I didn't think he was that bad." Of course a little could be a lot for an alcoholic.

"He's getting help before it can bad." Scott grabbed a napkin and scribbled an address and phone number on it before sliding it toward Derek. "If you want to see or talk to him."

"Everyone else thinks it's a bad idea. You yourself told me to stay away from him." He didn't understand why people kept yo-yoing he and Stiles around about this. "What's changed?"

"Well, everyone sat down and talked – "

"Everyone?"

"My Mom, Allison, John, Peter, and me." Oh, _everyone_. "We've come to realize that telling the two of you to stay of part doesn't work."

"Gee, you think?" Derek snarked. "Whatever gave the idea that telling us to do something meant that we would actually do it?"

"You sound like Stiles right now." Scott glared halfheartedly. "We know you guys have been through hell, both together and apart. We love you both, and we know you both love each other."

"Why do I feel like you drew the short straw on this conversation?" Seriously, did they draw cards or flip a coin to figure out who would host the one-man intervention with Derek?

"I volunteered, thank you very much." Well, color Derek surprised. "Look, before this last Thanksgiving, Stiles and I talked about you. He said you needed a friend and I said that I wanted to be your friend again if you'd have me."

"Why wouldn't I want you to be my friend?" It's not like he had many options at the moment.

"Because, when you and Stiles split, I took his side and I'm sorry." Scott said guiltily. "I should have found a way to be there for both of you and I didn't."

"I never blamed you for choosing Stiles, Scott." He hadn't. He'd missed Scott, sure, but he never blamed him for his choices. "Looking back now to that time, I can see a hell of a lot of things I did wrong. I'm surprised you were my friend in the first place."

"A lot was going on at the time – "

"I mean before that. We were all friends because we'd grown up together." Their parents had thrusted them together at such a young age, it was only natural for them to become friends. "If you'd just met me in high school, instead of as kids, could you honestly say that you would've wanted to be my friend?"

"I don't know. I'm not the same person I was." None of them were the same people they were back then. "I do know that we all made mistakes in high school."

"Yes we did."

"I brought you here to tell you that I'd like to be your friend again." Scott sounded so earnest when he said it that Derek could have smiled.

"Why would you want that after all I've done to Stiles?"

"The most your guilty of is not acting when your family or friends attacked Stiles. It's awful, yes, but it's not something that can't ever be forgiven." Scott always was the first person to forgive someone. "Stiles has always understood, you know? He understood how you were with your family. He's tried his hardest not to fault you for it."

"I can't change the past. I can't go back and make myself speak, if I could I would." The past couldn't be changed. "I don't know if I deserve a good friend, but I'm not going to say no if your offering."

"Like I would let you say no." He'd probably hound him day and night until he gave in. "I'm serious about you and Stiles, though. You should go see him. It might do you both some good to have a family therapy session."

"They offer those at rehab?"

"I'm not sure about all rehabs, but that one does." Interesting. "It's also a mental health facility."

"Maybe I'll go see him." It was a good idea.

"So, how are things with you? Are you going to patch things up with your family?" Scott asked.

"I'm okay, I guess." Most days he wasn't sure. "As for my family…I'm not sure. Peter's the only one I really talk to."

"Maybe you all could benefit from your own family therapy." Now that was a novel thought.

"We'd probably all kill each other." They could each use their own personal therapy. "Cora's been trying to talk to me. I just haven't been willing to listen."

"Maybe you should. She is the one stuck housing the rest of your family until your house is safe to live in again." She had them all but Peter; he was still living with Derek. "She fucked up by helping Laura. She's lost her job because of it. Maybe she's been punished enough. Maybe you could both use some more family members that don't have an agenda."

"You're just full of advice lately, aren't you?" He smiled at the other man who gave him a wide grin in return.

"If you're not going to take any of it, it's pretty much worthless." That was true.

* * *

Stiles first visitors in rehab were his father, Juice, and Chibs. They'd all shown up at the same time. It was a nice visit, something he hadn't known he needed. The next week Scott and Allison had come to see him and caught him up on the day-to-day goings of Beacon Hills. The week after Scott's visit someone he never expected to see was waiting for him.

"Not a chance in hell." Were the first words out of his mouth when he saw Talia Hale standing in front of him.

"I know you don't like me," Understatement of the century. "But, I'd like to talk to you."

"And I'd like to know who told you I was here." Could nothing be kept secret anymore?

"I was a DA for a long time, Stiles, I know how make simple deductions." If that were true then she'd be able to deduce that he didn't want her there. "Nobody told me, I figured it out on my own."

"What have you come to ruin this time?" It's not like he had a lot of things going for him. "My sobriety? It's hard to get alcohol into a rehab facility, but not impossible."

"I've just come to talk." Stiles didn't want to do that either. Talia's words usually hurt worse than a bullet wound. "No threats. No harsh words. Just a simple discussion."

"Nothing is simple when you're involved." He growled but took a seat at the nearest table anyway. "I'm going to regret this, I know I am."

"It wasn't easy for me to come here." She started after taking the seat across from him. "I don't like places like this."

"Would you like me to apologize because you're uncomfortable?" It's not like he asked her to come here. "Just say what you came to say, Talia."

"I would apologize again but it wouldn't mean anything to you." Too much damage had been inflicted for an apology to be worth anything. "I never meant…to hurt you the way I did."

"Don't lie to me." He snapped. "If you had been impulsive about it then maybe I could believe that. But you carefully thought out every single thing you did. You knew exactly how this was going to play out. You just thought your family would make it out intact."

"Well – "

"We both know you're not here to get me to understand. You're here for Derek." He wasn't going to sit here and let her speak to him when this wasn't about him. "You think making nice with me is going to somehow bring Derek back to your life."

"No, that is not why I'm here." The fuck it wasn't.

"I don't control Derek. I don't control how he feels or what he does. He's his own man – or he's trying to be." He wasn't going to help her regain control of him. "Before you come here, slapping me with fake apologies, maybe you should think about what all your decisions did to him. You want forgiveness? You ain't getting it from me. If you want Derek back in your life then you're going to have to fucking work for it, and I hope to hell that he never takes you back."

"I came here to try and get you to see my point of view on all of this." Her point of view didn't mean a damn thing to him.

"You point of view is that you thought Derek marrying me would ruin his career. It would ruin that pretty image that you and Lydia so carefully crafted." It wasn't hard to figure out. "But guess what, Talia? In the end, I'm not the one who ruined his image. That was you and that was your family. It was you and Cora abusing the power you were given. It was Laura's DWI and David's drug problem."

* * *

It took Derek a few weeks to work up the nerve to invite his younger sister to his house. He'd made sure she knew that the invitation was only for her and if anyone else were to show up then he was done. He needed to know that she could be trusted. By the time she'd arrived Peter had made himself scarce to give them some space.

"I'm glad you called." She spoke softly as they sat on the couch. "I missed you."

"I missed you to." He replied. "How have you been?"

"Bored, mainly. They haven't made a decision on whether I'll be returning to work or signing a resignation." They were probably still investigating, trying to see if there were any more cases she'd let slide. "I'll understand if they don't let me go back to work, but I'm not sure what I'll do if they don't."

"That's a problem a lot people are having lately." Himself included. "I never really thought about what I'd do if I couldn't play baseball."

"You have that history degree." He did have that. "You can always put it to good use."

"I guess I could." He'd studied history because he'd enjoyed it, he could probably find a job that would make him happy. "I need to figure some shit out first before I decide anything career wise."

"Figure what out?"

"Me. I need to figure me out." He needed to figure out who he was. "I need to learn who I am without everyone being involved in the process. I don't like who I am or who I've been. I want to change, I need to change."

"For Stiles?" It was an honest question.

"Yeah, for Stiles, but for myself to." He knew he couldn't do it completely for Stiles. "I've never really been my own person. I let myself be warped by the people around me. I know it's my own fault, I'm not blaming anyone else. I need to learn to be myself before I can make anymore decisions about my life."

"So how are you going to do that?"

"I have no idea." That was problem number one. "I know I can't keep living like I am though."

"No, you can't." Her eyes flicked to the beer cans lining the coffee table. "Those all yours?"

"Yes." Peter wouldn't drink beer or hard liquor, he was strictly a wine drinker. "I know it's a problem."

"A problem you plan to fix?" She raised her eyebrows in question.

"Yeah, it's a problem I plan to fix, eventually." There were other things he had to do first. "It helps with the pain in my arm, you know? After I'm done with physical therapy I'll stop."

"That's a copout and we both know it." In his mind pain was a pretty good excuse. "I wonder how many excuses Stiles gave before he finally went to rehab the first time around."

"My problem with alcohol isn't like Stiles'." He wasn't an alcoholic. He had a problem, yes, but he didn't need professional help.

"When John came over that day," They both knew what day that day was. "You sat here and said you drinking wasn't as bad as it had been in college, which implied it was pretty bad."

"It's not like it was then." He wasn't becoming violent or erratic this time. "I can – "

"You can quit anytime you want." It was something a lot of drunks said and it was exactly what he was going to say. "It's not even about the amount you drink, Derek. It about knowing that drinking is a problem for you and you've already admitted that. Now you just need to admit you need help."

"Maybe I do need help." But he didn't want it right now. "But when I get it is my decision."

"Fine." She couldn't exactly argue with him. He was an adult and could make his own decisions. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you, if you need me."

"Thank you." He did appreciate that.

"I know what I did for Laura was wrong and I'm sorry." She looked down at her hands in shame.

"What you did for Laura had nothing to do with me. That was a decision you made for Laura. You don't have to apologize to me for it." It hadn't even hurt his reputation because it was overpowered by his mother's power-hungry nature and his father's addiction. "If you get your job back never do it again. Not for Laura, not for Mom or Dad, not even for me."

"I won't." She more than likely would never be put in that position again. With all the bad press surrounding their family they both knew she wouldn't be getting her job back.


	17. Might Be Profound

After Talia's visit Stiles was tempted to put a block on who could visit his room. He didn't do it, though, because he wouldn't be there much longer. He wasn't spending ninety days there this time around. He and his counselor decided that thirty should do. When he left he would attend AA meetings at the community center and he'd find a therapist so he could continue to work through his crap.

He was on his last week he had another visitor. He'd wondered if Derek would show up or not. He had more than enough time to think about their last encounter. He regretted the way he acted. He'd always prided himself on keeping his emotions in check, but, after a few too many drinks, he started spouting off stuff that shouldn't be said out loud.

The first thing he thought when he saw it was Derek waiting for him was that the man looked like crap. He had dark circles under his eyes and he seemed more than a little anxious. His eyes kept darting back and forth, as if the orderlies were going to come for him and lock him away. When Stiles got close enough to smell him he could understand Derek's fears.

"You smell like a distillery." He wondered how they'd even let Derek in smelling like that.

"Nice to see you to." Derek grumbled. "You look better."

"Wish I could say the same." Derek looked like he'd been down ten miles of bad road. "You wanna go somewhere and talk?"

"We don't have to stay out here?" He nodded toward the commons room.

"No, it's my last week, they trust me to be good."

He led Derek down the hall and toward the room he was now occupying. It wasn't anything special. Two single beds on opposite sides of the room and two side tables. The windows were barred and the curtains were drawn to keep the sunlight out. Stiles took a seat on his bed and offered the end of it to Derek.

"My roommate, Oliver, is having a session with one of the counselors, so we should have a little time to ourselves." Oliver was okay for a roommate, a little odd, but then again so was Stiles.

"How's your arm?" Derek gestured to the cast still occupying Stiles left hand. "Shouldn't that be off by now?"

"It's a soft cast now, not plaster." He wasn't sure when he'd be completely cast free. "How's yours?"

"Healing."

"Good." Though saying it was healing really didn't mean much. Stiles' was healing too, but that didn't mean his hand was anywhere near good. "You do realize coming in here smelling like booze is incredibly inconsiderate."

"I know. I'm sorry." He looked sorry. "I needed some liquid courage, I guess."

"To talk to me?" That was surprising. "Why?"

"Because, I can never tell what kind of mood you'll be in." Stiles had been drunk. He tended to act a bit erratic after a few drinks. "You're usually angry or sad and defeated, and on a rare day you can be happy. I never know what I'm walking into anymore."

"I know I said some things the last time we saw each other." Things that, had he been sober, he never would have said. "I never meant to say them."

"Did you mean them?" Of course he meant them. "You said that she'd never let me be yours…does that mean that you want me?"

"There are a lot of things I want that are bad for me." Derek flinched at the words. "_You are_ not bad for me. The situations that we end up in, when we're in each other's lives, are bad for me, and for you."

"A lot of the time those situations are out of our control." Which, yeah, was true.

"Out of our control or not, we played our parts in them." They played them well.

"You didn't really answer my question." Derek pointed out. "Do you still want me?"

"Yes, I still want you, Derek. I never stopped wanting you." He'd tried like hell to stop but he never could. "But that doesn't change anything."

"Why not?"

"Look at us! Look at where we are right now!" He gestured between them and around the room. "I am in rehab and you are drunk. You came to visit your alcoholic husband, in rehab, while intoxicated."

"I'm not drunk." Stiles rolled his eyes, because he knew that. Derek didn't even seem tipsy. He just smelled like it. "I know that we have some issues to work on. My drinking being one. I'm going to stop, I am."

"When?"

"Soon." Well that was specific. "I told Cora that after I get done with physical therapy I would stop."

"And, when is that?"

"I don't know." Derek snapped at him. "Why does that matter? I'm going to quit."

"It matters because I can't be around you when you're like this." Before he could. When he'd had five years of sobriety under his belt. Now he was starting over. "I wanna have this conversation with you, okay? The conversation where we talk about what we were, and who we can be, and if we're both willing to take that risk again. But, I cannot do that with you when you're being this way."

"How am I being? I don't understand." The sad part is Stiles knew he didn't get it.

"I know you don't understand." Stiles ran a tired had through his hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." Derek replied without hesitation.

"People make sacrifices for the people they love." Parents sacrificed for their children, spouses for their partners. "Like choosing not to take a shot of tequila before visiting."

"It was whiskey, actually."

"Derek," Stiles sighed exasperatedly. "I know you don't understand why this is a big deal – "

"I do, okay? I understand. It was stupid of me to show up here after drinking." Stiles hoped he was at least starting to understand. "I'm sorry."

"I need to be completely clear with you on something, okay? Are you listening?" He waited for Derek to give him an affirmative before continuing. "You and I can't happen. Not now. We both have a lot of stuff to work through on our own."

"But, we could be together again? Someday?" He sounded so hopeful it just about broke Stiles' heart.

"If we can both get to a place where we're healthy and comfortable with ourselves, then maybe." He couldn't give a definitive answer. "And, I can't deal with your family again, I'm sorry."

"I know that."

"I'm still not entirely sure why you're mom showed up last week – "

"My mother was here?" That seemed to sober Derek up quickly. "What did she want?"

"I don't know." Apparently the conversation about _them_ was on hold. "I didn't give her much of a chance to talk because anything she says I don't want to hear."

"I'll talk to her." Like that ever did any good. "I thought after everything she'd leave you alone."

"I guess not." If she would his life would be so much simpler. "Veering back to our previous topic: I'm not saying yes or no to us someday trying to be together again. You understand that?"

"Yeah, I get it." Good, he needed Derek to get that.

"If you want us to get to the point where we can try again then you need to start making some changes to." He always heard that you shouldn't change someone you love. But, when their behavior was hurting themselves or others, then you had to do something. "I shouldn't have said that. You need to change because you want to not because I want you to or because you think – "

"I know, Stiles." Derek interjected quickly. "I had this conversation with your Dad and Cora. I know I have to change for me and I'm going to."

"You keep saying that but you don't seem to…" He didn't seem like he wanted to act on it.

"I'm still trying to figure out how I change and what exactly I want to change." Derek acknowledged. "I told Cora I wanted to learn how to be myself."

"That's good. You should do that." It was a good idea; it was something Derek needed to do.

"How do I do that?"

"I don't know." He wished he could offer Derek some kind of advice. "Maybe you just do what feels right for you. Don't think about what everyone else wants or needs. Sit down and think about what you think is best for you."

"Okay. I mean, I've been doing that a little bit." Stiles nodded his head, urging Derek to continue. "I've been thinking about leaving Los Angeles."

"For how long?" He could tell during his stay with Derek that LA wasn't really home to him.

"Permanently." Without baseball Derek had no reason to stay there anyway. "I've been thinking about putting my house on the market."

"I can't help you there. I know nothing about the housing market." He picked his house in LA because it was close the station not because he really liked it. "My house burned to the ground so I didn't have to worry about selling it."

"Sorry." Derek cringed at his words. "Kate –"

"Kate wasn't your fault." Someone had to tell Derek that, it was obvious no one had. "Jennifer wasn't your fault. And your mother is not your fault."

"If I hadn't – "

"Derek, you are not responsible for the actions of other people." He hadn't told any of them to do what they did, they'd done it and used him as an excuse. "None of what _they_ did was your fault."

"You know, a few weeks ago you hated me." Derek pointed out unhelpfully.

"I'm not going to say I've never hated you, Derek, because I have." He hated seeing the hurt look in Derek's eyes. "I'm just trying to be honest."

"I know." Derek looked away from him, not being able to meet his eye.

"Derek," Stiles lifted the other mans chin up. "There were times when you hated me to."

"No, there wasn't." That was a lie.

"After I lost our son you blamed me – "

"I never blamed you." His voice was hard with anger and conviction when he spoke. "I blamed the asshole that hit you. I never blamed you. How could you think that?"

"You wouldn't look at me for weeks after I got out of the hospital." It'd broken Stiles heart. "And when you finally did…you were so angry."

"We were both angry, Stiles. We spent the rest of our time together, before you left, angry." That was true. "I couldn't look at you because I felt guilty. I should have been with you and Scott that day."

"It wouldn't have changed anything. You couldn't have stopped that car from hitting us." Derek was never supposed to be in the car with them. Stiles and Scott had been Christmas shopping for Derek and his Dad at the time, Derek couldn't have come. "We still would've ended up losing our son."

"I know that, but I could have been with you. You wouldn't have had to wait hours for me to show up." Stiles had been in the hospital for a total of two and a half hours before Derek or anyone else arrived.

"Fucking hell we have issues." Stiles surmised as he laid himself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "For the record, I never blamed you for not getting there sooner."

"I never blamed you for the loss of our son." Derek maneuvered himself up behind Stiles hesitantly.

They lay together like that for a while. Stiles let his eyes drift to Derek. They were physically closer than they'd been in seven years. The bed was too small for them both to stretch out so they'd ended up together, bodies touching from head to toe. Derek's bad arm was curled between them while Stiles had moved his to rest on Derek's chest.

"God, I miss you sometimes." If it were anyone else he'd be ashamed of how much his voice cracked at the omission.

"I miss you too." Derek closed the space between them and captured Stiles lips in a soft kiss. Stiles let himself kiss his husband back before Derek pulled away.

"We can't." He whispered desperately. "Not yet."

"I know."

* * *

Derek was still reeling from his visit with Stiles when he had Peter drive to Cora's house. His uncle had been acting as his chauffeur for the day since Derek had been drinking earlier. The older man seemed a bit confused about why they were going to Cora's, since his parents were there, but he seemed to let it go easily.

Laura and his father looked shocked by his presence. Cora gave him an encouraging smile from her place on the couch. He'd texted her while he was on the road to warn her of his impending visit. His mother, well, she just looked resigned, like she knew he would come face her eventually.

"Listen to me very carefully, okay?" For once in her life he hoped she actually did listen. "Stay away from Stiles."

"I only wanted to speak with him." Sure she did.

"I don't care what you went there for." He didn't care what she wanted to speak to Stiles about. "You've done enough damage. You leave him alone."

"I know the damage I've caused." Talia stated. "I wanted to apologize."

"How'd that go?" He and Stiles didn't get into specifics when it came to his mothers visit.

"Obviously, he wouldn't accept my apology, and then claimed I was only doing it so you would come back to your family." That wasn't going to happen.

"Handing out empty apologies is going to get you nowhere." He commented earning a glare from his mother.

"They aren't empty apologies."

"You know what you should do if your really are sorry?" Not that he was going to believe that she was. "You should prove it."

"How do you expect me to do that?" The same way everyone else expected him to get better.

"Change." She shot him a confused look. "No one's going to accept your apology. This entire town thinks you're a pariah. You want everyone, including me, to believe you're truly sorry? Then change."

"Change what?" She questioned.

"Change yourself." It wasn't as simple as it sounded, he knew that. "Go to counseling or therapy. Do what you have to do to. That's what I'm going to do. That's what all of you should do."

"Therapy could help you calm down your controlling nature, Talia." Peter pointed out. "All the time I've spent in therapy over the years has helped me become one of the less dysfunctional members of our family."

"Shut up, Peter." She growled at her brother.

"Love you too, Sissy." He returned her cold stare with a smile. "And David, we all know you use prescription drugs as an escape from your inability to cope with your home life. Counseling would suit you nicely. Maybe some time in rehab or at least an NA meeting would do you well."

"He's not wrong." Cora declared.

"Peter's right," Derek interrupted before Laura got up to defend their parents. "Everyone in this room could use some help."

"And if we get help you'll come back home?" Derek shook his head in annoyance.

"We're not making a deal, Mom." He hoped she'd want to get over her problems. "Get help or don't."

"So, you're done with our family?" Laura asked. "For good?"

"No. I don't know." He huffed out a breath. "I need to be away from the majority of you, for a while, so I can sort out my own stuff. I don't know if I'll ever want to be a part of this family again. With the way things are now, I can't do it."

"So, if you see that we've gotten help…" His father coaxed.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see if that actually happens before I answer that." He was basically giving them the same ultimatum that Stiles gave him. "For now, leave me alone and leave Stiles alone. Leave anyone connected to Stiles alone."

"Derek – "

"If you contact me or Stiles, then I won't come back." He had to make sure they understood. "If I want to speak to you, I will call you. Until then just stay away from me."

"You are our son," His father stood up to keep him from leaving. "How do you expect us to just leave you alone?"

"If you love me," He knew that they did even with how terrible they could be. "If you love me, you will do what I ask."

* * *

It was deathly quiet in the car as Peter drove them back toward LA. Derek didn't know if his parents would keep their distance like he'd asked. He hoped they would. The less time he spent around them the better.

"That was very brave." His uncle broke the silence. "It was brave to stand up to your parents that way."

"I should have done it a long time ago." Maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they were if he had.

"You told them you were going to change," He did say that. "When does that start?"

"Today."


	18. Picking Up the Pieces

"Thanks for coming to get me." Stiles said as he buckled his seatbelt. "I didn't want to take my dad away from his work."

"He's not at work." He wasn't? "He's at the diner with my mom and Allison. They're waiting for us."

"Oh." He thought his father would fight tooth and nail to be the one to pick him up.

"He doesn't know your coming home today. I told him you were coming home tomorrow." Scotts face brightened as he continued. "I told him and my mom that Allison and I had a surprise for them."

"Oh my god!" Stiles screeched causing Scott to veer the car in shock. "Allison's pregnant!"

"Allison is what?" Scott looked over at him in a panic. "How do you know? Did she call you? Did she come see you? Why didn't she tell me?"

"What? No - eyes on the road!" Stiles face-palmed. "You said that you had a surprise for them?"

"Yeah." Scott nodded. "The surprise is you, dumbass."

* * *

Derek had spent most of the last few days packing up his belongings. He hadn't realized how many he'd accumulated while living in Los Angeles. Most of it would be going into storage. Peter had already claimed his furniture, citing that he'd need it for the house he'd recently purchased in Beacon Hills. Some of the baseball memorabilia he'd collected was going to the Stilinski house, because he knew John would keep it safe for him.

Derek didn't have a clear plan on what he was going to do. He would spend a few days in Beacon Hills. Peter offered his spare room to him for the duration of his stay, and Derek had taken him up on that offer. It was either stay with Peter or Cora, or he had to find a hotel room. He wished he could crash on the Sheriff's couch but he knew Stiles would be home from rehab soon and he was trying to give him some space.

The kiss they'd shared had been something he'd wanted for a long time. Since the moment Stiles had walked back into his life he wanted him back in his arms and in his bed. He had him there, just for a second. His warm hands and soft lips. It wasn't much but it would have to be enough for now.

"You know you can hire people to do all this." Peter repeated for the umpteenth time since he'd started packing.

"I know."

He didn't want strangers touching his things. He wouldn't be seeing the majority of it for a while. He needed to look and to feel before it was all locked away. It's the one thing he regretted not doing when he'd moved out of the apartment in Berkeley. Cora had been the one to go through everything he and Stiles had bought together, the things Stiles had left behind. His husband may not have left anything behind in this house, but Derek wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

"You've been quiet since you started packing." His uncle commented. "Having second thoughts about leaving this place behind?"

"No. It's just a house." It had been somewhere flashy to live. He didn't even pick it out, that'd been a combination of Lydia and his sisters. "I'm just not very talkative I guess."

"How's the shaking?" Peter gestured toward Derek's hands.

"Fine." He didn't realize how quickly the symptoms of withdrawal would hit him. He'd stopped drinking the night he'd seen Stiles a rehab and it didn't take long for his body to start craving alcohol. "No more broken dishes."

"They were only dishes." Peter surmised. "They were nothing valuable."

* * *

Stiles let Scott lead him into the diner. He could see his father and Melissa chatting animatedly with Allison in their normal booth. He couldn't help but think of how disappointed his parents would be when they learned that a grandchild wasn't the surprise Allison and Scott had in store for them.

"Scotts here." He heard Allison say and watched his as his father and Melissa turned toward them.

"Look who I brought!" Scott beamed as he shoved Stiles forward. "Surprise!"

"You weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow." His dad said as he pulled him into a hug. "I would've come to get you."

"I'm the one who lied." Scott admitted. "I wanted to surprise you guys."

"So, you're not pregnant?" Melissa eyed Allison suspiciously.

"No. Why? Do I look pregnant?" Allison's eyes dropped to her stomach and then shot to Scott. "Do I look pregnant?"

"You look gorgeous." Scott answered quickly.

"So, you're surprise wasn't that you were having a baby," His father said as he pulled away and Stiles could clearly see the tears swimming in his eyes. "It was that you were bringing my baby home."

"Oh my god, Dad."

"Shut up, Stiles, and let me have this." His Dad ordered as he pulled him back into the hug.

No one ever said the Stilinski men weren't huggers. Stiles probably stood there a good ten minutes letting his father hold him. You'd think they hadn't seen each other in years. In reality it'd only been a few weeks. When they finally took their seats Stiles was shoved in between his father and Melissa, like they thought he was going to make an escape attempt.

"Stiles," Allison said seriously. "I think we should tell him."

"Tell him?" He shot her a confused look across the table. He had no idea what they were supposed to be telling his brother until she puckered her lips slightly and it clicked.

"Tell him." She repeated with more force this time. She wanted to break the emotional tension at the table, Stiles was down for that.

"Tell me what?" Scott asked, glancing between them.

"Well, Scotty," Stiles leaned across the table to take Allison's hand in his. "Allison and I – "

"Fuck you, Stiles." Scott said laughing, like he'd already gotten the joke.

"He just doesn't understand our love." Stiles said to Allison who shook her head solemnly.

"What?" Scott's eyes darted to Stiles. "What love? You better be joking."

"It was when she was dropping me off at rehab, Scott. We didn't mean for it to happen, but I swear, it was just a kiss." He put a faux ashamed look on for his brother. "There wasn't even any tongue involved."

"Oh, really?" Allison replied with a snort.

"Stiles!" Scott cried out.

"There may have been a little tongue." Stiles admitted with a laugh.

"You're an asshole." Scott stuck his tongue out at him. "Worst brother ever."

"Children," Melissa scolded them halfheartedly. "We're in public, at least try to at your ages."

"No promises." Stiles admitted.

"Now that you're home," John's voice took a serious tone. "What're going to do?"

"I thought I could help you out at the station." He could go over cold cases or file paperwork. "If that's okay?"

"Did you honestly think I would say no?" No, he didn't. Though he suspected if he wanted to go out in the field his father would slap him with a hell no. "It'll be a desk job until you're hand heals and then we'll see where you're at."

"Sounds good." He still held a bit of hope that he would one day return to the field. "About my staying with you –"

"You can stay as long as you want." He appreciated the sentiment, he really did, but he couldn't stay with them forever.

"Actually, I have some savings." He also had the insurance policy from his house. "I could start looking for a place soon."

"Why don't you hold off on that for a little bit?" Melissa suggested. "Get yourself settled into a routine first. You already have work, meetings and counseling on your plate. You should relax. Give yourself some time before you throw yourself into everything."

"Is that your way of saying you want me to stick around so you can keep an eye on me?" He wasn't angry. If he was in their shoes he'd do the same thing.

"It's my way of saying that we all love you and we want to make sure you're not stressing yourself out by doing too much." She stated. "Take it one day at time. Don't rush things."

"Okay."

"Have you talked to Derek?" He dad asked.

"He came to see me a few days ago." They hadn't spoken since. "Why?"

"He's giving me his baseball stuff." His dad sounded like a kid who was getting the Christmas gift they'd been begging their parents for all year.

"He is not _giving_ you anything." Melissa corrected. "He is leaving his baseball memorabilia at your house, because he doesn't want it to rot in storage, and he knew you'd appreciate it."

"He decided to sell the house then?" He questioned. "He said he was thinking about it."

"Yeah, it's already on the market." Derek and his Dad must have been chatting a lot recently. "He's going to stay with Peter until he gets his own place, I guess."

"How is he going to stay with Peter?" Peter was staying with Derek because he didn't want to stay with Cora. How had the roles reversed? "He's not moving back into the Hale house, is he?"

"No." Thank God. "Peter bought his own place recently. I don't think he or Derek will be going back to the Hale house anytime soon."

"Are you all still having those little meetings about how to fix Derek and me?" He raised an inquiring eyebrow at them.

"No, now we're having meetings to discuss how long it'll take you guys to realize how stupidly in love you both still are." Scott replied sarcastically.

"I'm glad my marital problems are amusing to you." He retorted with no heat behind his words. "For the record: Derek and I know that we still love each other. We also know that it'd be stupid to act on our feelings right now."

"It's good that you both are being mature about it." Stiles and Derek could be very mature when they wanted to be. "You're still recovering and Derek's just starting his recovery. It's not the right time for either of you to jump into a relationship."

"I know." The right time would come, he was sure of it. That time just wasn't now. "He and I talked about it when he came to see me. We're both aware of where the other stands. We know we both have things to sort out before we can think about being together again."

* * *

Derek sat in his new bedroom at his uncle's house and felt lost. This room wasn't his. It wasn't anyone's. There were no posters lining the walls, no plants that needed tending to. There weren't even any curtains on the windows. It was blank and devoid of any personal touches.

He thought about placing a picture on the bedside table. Maybe a single item would help him feel more at home. He couldn't bring himself to do it though. There was a nagging voice in the back of his head telling him _no_. He didn't know why, but he knew he couldn't unpack what little he'd brought with him.

He could hear Peter from the open door. He was talking to Derek's mother on the phone. They'd run into her while grocery shopping, when they'd gotten back into town. Derek knew the moment he'd seen her that it was what he had to look forward to. Running into the relatives he needed to stay away from. Even seeing them now reminded him of times he'd rather forget. It made him itch to take a drink so he wouldn't have to feel the hurt they had caused.

It wasn't a conscious decision to pick his dufflebag up off the floor. He hadn't even fully realized why he did it when he walked out the bedroom door. He found his uncle in the living room, staring angrily at his phone and jabbing at the_ End Call_ button. He spotted Derek quickly enough, looking him up and down until his eyes landed on the duffle.

"You're not staying." One of the reasons he and Peter got along so well was because they understood each other.

"I can't stay." He didn't mean in the house either. "I can't stay in Beacon Hills."

"Not if you want to get better you can't." Peter must have known it would end this way all along. He was just waiting for Derek to figure it out for himself.

"I left Los Angeles because there was nothing there for me anymore." He hadn't really thought about it. "Beacon Hills seemed like the obvious choice when I needed somewhere else to go."

"The most obvious choice isn't always the best one." Derek was starting to understand that.

"I can't be constantly looking over my shoulder everywhere I go thinking that Mom or Laura is going to corner me at the grocery store." He wouldn't put it past either of them.

"And, you can't see Stiles around town and not be with him." No, he really couldn't.

"That to." He completely agreed with what he and Stiles had talked about. They needed to be apart to get better. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt not being with him.

"Do you know where you'll go?" Peter asked.

"No." He hadn't really given it that much thought. "Maybe I'll just start driving and see where I end up."

"You were thinking of New York when you were filling out college applications in high school." He had wanted to go to New York but he'd decided to go to Berkeley with Stiles instead. "You could go there."

"It's an option." The drive all the way to New York could be good for him.

"Or you could go back to South America." Derek and Cora had spent time there after he and Stiles had separated. She was doing some environmental volunteer work and he needed a break from Berkeley. "You enjoyed it there."

"I could do that too." South America had been relaxing. It'd probably be better for him then New York. "I could do both."

"You could do both." Peter acknowledged. "You can't just leave, though."

"I know." He couldn't just take off out of the blue.

"If you don't tell him you're going then it'll ruin the progress you've made." He never intended to leave without seeing Stiles.

"I know." He and Stiles had to talk about one more thing before he left anyway. "I'm not leaving tonight. I'll call Stiles and meet up with him tomorrow, and then I'll leave this weekend."


	19. Call You My Own

Derek was on the baseball field when Stiles got to the high school. He was practicing his batting from the looks of thing, some teenager pitching baseballs toward him. Stiles sat on the bleachers to watch. He was mesmerized by his movements. He could picture the Derek from high school in this one's place.

He was stronger now, physically. Emotionally, he was weaker. High school Derek walked with his head held high, like nothing could ever touch him. The stress was evident in present Derek's shoulders. Baseball couldn't take him away from the world like it could in high school.

When Derek finally spotted Stiles he froze, like he'd forgotten Stiles would be there. He recovered quickly enough, telling the kid that was helping him to hit the showers. He seemed hesitant as he made his way toward the bleachers.

"I used to love watching you play." He couldn't help but feel nostalgic. High school was such a long time ago now. "You used to seem so free when you got on the field."

"It's different now." Derek admitted solemnly. "It's tainted."

"I suppose it is." He knew that baseball was something that had kept Derek sane throughout the years. "So, did you choose this spot because we have history here?"

"No, I figured it was neutral ground." The high school could be considered neutral; he couldn't be sure about the field though. He remembered some pretty interesting times under the bleachers. "I didn't know if you'd come."

"I didn't know if I would either." It was a hard decision to make. "Your message was… you seemed like you really needed to talk."

"I could have written it all in a letter and dropped it on your doorstep." Stiles couldn't decide if that would hurt more or less. "But I needed to tell you this in person. It's important for me that you know…"

"Do you wanna do this somewhere else?" He knew this would be a deeply personal conversation and no matter the nostalgia the baseball diamond brought, it wasn't the place for a meaningful talk. "Do you want to go back to my Dad's house?"

"Yeah, if that's okay." He didn't seem sure of himself but he followed Stiles off the field anyway.

* * *

When they got to the Stilinski house it was empty. He led Derek up to his bedroom, the only place they'd get any real privacy if someone came home. He offered Derek a spot on the bed while he sat at his desk. He needed the distance. If he sat with his husband he would want to touch him and feel him. He couldn't do either of those things right now. He just had to listen.

"Should you have been playing baseball?" He asked looked toward Derek's bad arm. "Did your doctors say it was okay?"

"No, I shouldn't be playing." Derek replied as he shrugged himself out of his jacket. "I just needed to."

"You should be more careful. You don't want to hurt yourself more." He didn't want to come off like a nag but he wanted Derek to take care of himself. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I sold my house." Stiles had already heard that from his father.

"You're going to be staying with Peter, right?" He repeated the information he'd gotten from the others.

"No. I mean, I was going to, but I decided not to." Derek looked at him with nervous eyes. "I'm leaving Beacon Hills."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure yet." Derek admitted. "I just know that I have to go."

"Why?" He hated the way his voice cracked as he asked.

"Because, I can't do what I need to do here." He answered. "If I stay I won't make any progress. I'll just be looking at my problems instead of fixing them."

"How does leaving help you make progress?"

"I won't have to see the people who make me want to pick up a bottle." Stiles tried not to flinch because he knew he could be one of those people. "I can't be here until I can be around people without instinctively wanting to drown myself in whiskey. I can't become my own person when the people who made me who I am right now are trying corner me every time I leave Peter's house."

"I'm sorry." He looked toward away from his husband.

"It's not you, Stiles." It wasn't a complete lie. He and Derek had helped make each other what they were. "It's everyone."

"I get it." He did. "You know I had to leave Beacon Hills too. That was LA for me. I was never going to come home."

"I'll come home." Stiles wanted to believe him but he didn't know if he could. "I don't know when, but I'll come home."

"I don't want you to rush it." You couldn't rush something like that. "I don't want you to come back until you feel a hundred percent ready."

"Okay."

"I mean it, Derek." He met his husband's eyes so he would know he was serious. "If you come back before you think you should then you're just going to fall back on old habits."

"I know." Derek assured him. "I know that change isn't going to happen in a few weeks or even a few months. I know it can take years…"

"Years." He hated the idea of being away from Derek for years. They'd already lost so much time already.

"I'm not going to do something stupid like ask you to wait for me." He sounded like he wanted to ask though.

"You know there's never been anyone but you." Derek raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Juice and Chibs - "

"I've slept with other people." There was a difference between having sex with someone and being in a relationship with them. "I've never been involved with anyone but you. I've never loved anyone but you."

"I haven't either." It was Stiles turn to raise his eyebrows. "There have been girls but there's never been…"

"Oh." Stiles had always assumed there had been someone else after he left. Someone Derek cared about and wanted to be with.

"When you first sent me the divorce papers," Derek shook his head like he was shaking off a bad memory. "You sent a note that said_ Be Free_, what did that mean?"

"I use to see pictures of you in magazines or on the internet, and you always had some beautiful girl on your arm." He always tried to avoid seeing those. "I thought that maybe you fell in love with someone else, or that someday you would fall in love with someone else. I didn't want to hold you back from that. I wanted you to be free to love someone else."

"My mother telling me not to, isn't the reason I didn't sign the papers." Derek admitted. "Signing them would've been so final and I couldn't do that. I couldn't let you go."

Stiles didn't know what to say to that. He watched as Derek grabbed a packet of papers from his discarded jacket. Stiles knew what they were the minute Derek handed them over. They were the divorce papers.

"I signed them." His husband nodded toward the papers.

"You what?" He felt like the breath had been punched out of him.

"I didn't do it because I don't love you anymore or because I don't want to be with you." Derek assured him.

"Then why did you sign them?" Stiles questioned as he sat the papers down on the desk.

"Because if I come back and we try again," There was so much hope in Derek's voice that they'd get a second chance that Stiles fought to hold back his own tears. "I want it to be a fresh start."

He didn't think about it before. He didn't think that Derek leaving would ever be an option. He thought that they could both stay and heal and become who they were supposed to. He knew seeing each other in town would hurt but in the end it would be worth it. He understood why Derek was going, though, and he'd accept it, because he had no other choice. He understood that Derek was leaving. He understood that there was a chance that Derek wasn't coming back. This could be the last time they saw each other. If it was the last time then Stiles was going to make the most of it.

* * *

Derek watched him from his place at the end of the bed. He watched Stiles moved toward him with a grace in his movement. There was delicateness to each step he took. If anyone could read his thoughts, they'd think he was insane. Stiles wasn't graceful or delicate. He was clumsy and spastic. Of course, nobody knew what he was like behind closed doors.

"Derek…" There was no rush in the way Derek kissed him. It was sweet and it was soft and it was the beginning all over again.

Even after all this time they were well versed in what the other liked.

Derek knew that when they kissed Stiles' tongue would fight his for dominance. Stiles knew that he would always let Derek win. Derek knew that that if he tugged on Stiles hair, that he'd pull him deeper into the kiss. Stiles knew that if ghosted his fingertips over the back of Derek's neck, that it'd make him shiver and bite at his lip in retaliation. They both knew the only way the kiss would break was when they needed to take a breath.

Stiles knew that when the kiss broke he'd take the opportunity to strip Derek of his shirt. Derek knew that he could take off both Stiles' shirts before pulling him onto his lap in a practiced move. Stiles knew that Derek would bury his face in his neck and that Stiles would roll his hips against Derek's groin. Derek knew that, as soon as he felt Stiles' hardness against his own, he'd pull him as close as he possibly could. Stiles knew that if he raked his nails down Derek's back that he'd growl while his tongue lapped over Stiles collarbone. Derek knew that as soon as Stiles' hands reached for his belt buckle that this was real.

Derek knew that once he rolled Stiles onto his back that this could go one of two ways. Stiles knew that tonight they weren't rushing anything. Derek knew that this would be slow and last as long as possible. Stiles knew that this wasn't just a stolen moment in the midst of chaos.

Derek knew that once they were stripped bare of all their clothing that the masks they wore for other people would go with them. Stiles knew that their eyes would stay locked the entire time. Derek knew that once the prep was finished Stiles would grab one of his hands and wouldn't let go all night. Stiles knew that he'd hold his breath until Derek was fully inside of him. Derek knew that he'd kiss Stiles until their lips were swollen and red.

Stiles knew what would happen tomorrow. Derek knew that, even if he came back, it would never be the same. Stiles knew that they only had the night. Derek knew that the years they'd spent together were over. Stiles knew that those years together weren't nearly long enough.

They both knew what making love was. They both knew this wasn't it.

This was Goodbye.

* * *

He awoke when Derek climbed out of a bed. He pretended to be asleep as he watched him dress. He knew Derek was leaving. He knew that, after all this time, he couldn't let him go without saying something. If there was a possibility that they were never going to see each other again, then he had to make this moment count.

"Derek?"

Derek's hand was on the door knob and when Stiles spoke he froze. He was unmoving, not looking back but not moving forward. He couldn't make a clean break. One thing had to be said before there could ever be any closer. They couldn't live in this limbo forever.

"Goodbye."

He seemed to falter at Stiles words. He stood like a statue before nodding his head in understanding. He didn't say them back, Stiles knew he couldn't yet, he wasn't ready for them. Stiles wasn't ready either, not after everything they'd been through, but the words had to be said.

He listened to Derek to walk down the stairs. He heard the front door squeak as it opened for him and closed behind him. He heard the heavy footsteps walk down the front steps. He heard him get in his car and start it up. He heard the car pull out of the driveway and start its descent down the street.

Then he broke.

He turned his face into the pillow Derek had used the night before. It still smelled like him, of his sweat and aftershave. He inhaled deeply as the tears fell from his face. He couldn't and wouldn't hold back anything this time. His cries turned to sobs and hitching breaths. Everything he'd held back came rushing forward and out like a tidal wave.

He was in mourning. Mourning the relationship they'd had and the marriage they'd failed. The son they'd made and lost. The love they'd shared that would never go away, but instead live separately in both of them.


	20. A Happy Ending

The drive back was a long one. After five years away if was more than a little nerve-racking to pass the _Entering Beacon Hills_ sign. It wasn't as if he hadn't been back in his time away, because he had, several times. It was different this time because it was permanent. He was home and it was for good and he wasn't leaving again. He was going to be with Stiles and they were going to be a family.

He knew living in Beacon Hills again wasn't going to be easy. He'd rebuilt himself while he was away and now he had to build a life back home. He had a job and a place to live already figured out. He had people waiting for him, people who had been waiting a long time. It wasn't only Stiles or the rest of the Stilinski's either, it was his own family waiting for him to.

It'd taken him over a year to speak to anyone in his family besides Peter or Cora. Peter had kept Derek informed on how everyone was doing. He knew that his father and Cora had both taken his advice and gone to therapy. He knew it had take a few months, and some harsh choices, to get his mother and Laura to go to counseling with them.

His parent's marriage nearly disintegrated before his mother agreed to do any form of therapy. His father had finally grown a pair and had given her an ultimatum: She was either to attend therapy or he wouldn't be moving back into their house. Surprisingly enough Talia proved that she was still capable of caring when she chose her husband over her own stubbornness.

Laura only allowed herself to be cajoled into therapy after trying to reunite with Parrish. Cora had told Derek that Parrish had refused to give Laura another chance when she'd asked for it. The Deputy had seen a side of Laura and the Hale family that he didn't like or agree with, and no matter how much he cared about Laura, he couldn't be around it. Derek couldn't blame him for wanting to stay as far away from his family as possible.

Derek was right when he assumed that Cora wouldn't get her job back. She could have looked for work in private security or something related to the law enforcement field, but instead she decided to go into business with Peter. The pair of them opened a book store in the middle of town. Derek didn't know why they chose a book store, but he wasn't going to question it as long as they were happy.

His relationship with his family wasn't going to be like it was when he was a kid. He doubted he would ever feel comfortable in the presence of his mother again. He shared phone calls with them once in a while and even agreed to attend family therapy sessions with them when he got settled back into Beacon Hills. He may not be able to forgive them for their past sins, but they could move on if they tried hard enough.

* * *

Derek pulled into the Stilinski drive way sometime after sunset. It felt like an eternity had passed since the last time he'd been here, but everything still looked the same. The walk toward the front door took just as long as it had the last time he'd taken it. The door had been re-painted but still held a dent from when Stiles nearly brained himself tripping over his own feet in high school. He stood there trying to control his nervousness while he waited for the door to be answered after he'd knocked.

"Derek Hale." The older man welcomed him with a tired sigh.

"Sheriff." He greeted his former father-in-law with a nod. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I suppose you should."

The first thing Derek noticed when he entered the house is that if felt like he was back in time. There were toys strewn about the hall way. The sound of cartoons coming from the living room, followed by the sounds of a child's laughter.

"Hey buddy," John greeted a little boy that was sitting in front of the television. "I'm going to be in the kitchen. You have ten more minutes of cartoons and then its nap time, okay?"

"Okay, Grandpa." The boy hadn't even turned to look at either of them; he kept his eyes locked on whatever he was watching.

Derek let his eyes linger on the moles adorning the boy's skin and the bright smile that he'd seen on so many times before. By the time he'd pulled himself out of his stupor John was already in the kitchen. He took an offered cup of coffee before sitting across from the other man at the table.

"He's Stiles son." The boy looked so much like Stiles it was scary.

"He's yours." John was quick to point out as if Derek had forgotten that bit of information.

* * *

When Derek had first left Beacon Hills he had the intention of not contacting Stiles. He thought they needed the clean break. Stiles was the one to break the silence between them. He'd called Derek a few weeks after he'd left to tell him that they were expecting a child together. He'd wanted to rush back the minute he heard, ecstatic by the news, but Stiles wouldn't let him.

The decision to stay away was only made because Stiles had come to him. Stiles would call or visit so he could be as involved in the pregnancy as much possible without actually being in Beacon Hills. He'd been there for the birth, though. He'd watched Stiles bring their son into the world.

Leaving Stiles and their son behind had been the most difficult. He'd stayed in Beacon Hills for a few weeks after his son was born and then he had to go. It'd been too soon to return. He hadn't been mentally prepared for being around everyone yet. Just the idea of seeing his family had made him anxious to the point of wanting to drown a bottle. Stiles had seen it. They talked about Stiles following him back to New York but in the end it was best for Stiles and the baby to stay behind.

Derek got to know his son through video chats and phone calls. Every few months Stiles would bring their son to see him or they would meet half way. They could never stay together though. As much as Derek loved Stiles and their child, he hadn't been stable enough to stay around.

He wanted to be a good man for Stiles. He wanted to be a good father to his son. He couldn't do that if he was still unsure of himself. Stiles told him he needed to be a hundred percent sure he was ready before he came back. He told him that he and their son would still be there. It'd been hard to be away from Stiles for so long but in the end he knew it would be worth it.

* * *

"Did you get yourself sorted out?" John asked.

"I'm still working on it." It would take a lifetime to work through _all_ of his baggage. "I'm better now, though. I'm still doing therapy and I haven't had a drink since I left. I got a job at the high school teaching History and they want me to coach the baseball team. I'm staying with Peter right now but I'm looking for my own place. I'm getting my life back together."

"You are, huh?"

"I am." He knew he'd fucked up before, but he was ready to make up for his mistakes now. "When can I see Stiles?"

"When's the last time you talked to him?"

"A few months ago, I think." It'd worried him at first but he still received text messages and emails containing pictures and information on his son from John and Scott so he figured they were all okay. "He said he was going to be really busy and to not worry. He sounded off but you and Scott were still sending me stuff, so I assumed everything was okay."

"Derek," Johns voice was ragged and hoarse as he spoke. "Stiles is gone."

"When will he be back?" He wanted to see Stiles now, but he would wait if he had to.

"He won't be." The sadness that seemed to sit in Johns eyes broke his heart. "He died six months ago."

Time froze when the words left John's mouth. Derek could swear his heart stopped. Stiles wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. He was supposed to be here. He was waiting for Derek to come home and they would be a family. He couldn't be dead.

"What…how?" He forced the words out of his throat.

"Frontal temporal dementia. It's what his mother had." Derek remembered Claudia and he remembered how she slowly withered away in front of them all. He remembered how she slowly lost her mind. "He found out while he was pregnant."

"He didn't tell me." He didn't understand why no one called him. Why hadn't Stiles told him?

"Scott, Allison, Melissa and I are the only ones who knew." They should have told him. He deserved to know.

"I should have been there." Tears began to pour from his eyes.

"That's exactly why he didn't tell you. He knew you'd rush back before you were ready." John put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He knew you'd come back eventually and he wanted you to be healthy and stable when you did so that you could take care your that little boy in there."

"I don't know how to take care of a child by myself." That was something he was supposed to do with Stiles. He wasn't supposed to do it alone.

"I'll help you." He knew that, but it didn't matter. It wouldn't be the same without Stiles.

"Nobody told me Stiles was gone…" He scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to wipe away the tears, but more fell in their place. "I would've been to the funeral or…"

"He made me promise not to call you. He wanted you to come home on your own." John explained. "If you came back early you would have stayed and all the progress you had made would've gone down the drain."

"What about my family, what was there excuse?"

"Stiles could be pretty persuasive when he wanted to be."

* * *

The life Derek came back to wasn't the one he was hoping for. He hoped to recapture the romance, the love, he'd shared with Stiles. He wanted them to raise their son together and add a few more kids to the family eventually. He wanted to watch Stiles grow old. He wanted to lie beside Stiles one night in the distant future, after their hair had turned grey and wrinkles adorned their faces, he wanted to fall into a deep slumber with his husband and never wake up.

It was a different future he saw now. A future without Stiles. Stiles would never be his husband again. They wouldn't raise their son together. They wouldn't bring any other children into the world. Stiles was never going to grow old. Stiles was gone and Derek had to live the rest of his life without him.

It harder to keep going then he imagined. He had lashed out at Peter and Cora or anyone who would listen when he saw them. He knew that it was Stiles choice to keep his sickness from him, but Derek couldn't help but feel betrayed that nobody had told him. It was Scott who'd made Derek understand. Scott sat with him and explained that Stiles believed that Derek had been through enough pain, and he didn't want to inflict more by having Derek watch him waste away and die.

The pain of losing Stiles was enough to make him want to dive back into the rut he'd just spent five years digging himself out of. It was his son and thoughts of Stiles that kept him from falling back on old vices. He and Stiles had lost too much time together because Derek was healing. He wouldn't lose any more time with his son because of a weak moment.

Raising his son without Stiles wasn't easy. He spent a lifetime wishing that Stiles could be there. He wanted Stiles to see their son graduate high school and college. He wanted Stiles to be their when their son decided to follow in his footsteps and join the Sheriff's Department. He wanted Stiles with him when he watched their son get married. He wanted Stiles to hold the grandchild that was named after him. He wanted Stiles to be there for everything.

* * *

The last time Derek watched this stretch of cemetery it had been to bury John. Before that he'd come with Scott every year on Mother's day to leave flowers for Claudia in Stiles name. Today, he walked alone and empty handed as he made his way toward Stiles final resting place for the first time.

It had taken decades for him to make peace was that fact that the man he loved was gone and he wasn't with him. In that time he'd become a father to their son, a teacher to his students, an uncle to Cora's children, and eventually a grandfather to his grandchildren. His hair had gone grey years before and his eyes didn't shine quite as bright as they had when Stiles was in his life.

It'd taken him a long time to finally get here. To be able to say what he needed to say to Stiles. Now, standing in front of Stiles headstone, he couldn't think of the right words. He didn't need to say _I love you_ or _I miss you_, because Stiles had known all those things. He didn't need to stand here and tell Stiles about all the wonderful things he hadn't gotten to see. He couldn't tell Stiles goodbye, because whether he accepted that Stiles was dead or not, he would never be ready to say goodbye.

He sat down in front of the plot. He traced the name and the date with his fingers. _Wojciech 'Stiles' Stilinski, 1996 – 2031_. He traced the words written at the bottom of the stone. _Loving Brother, Father, Friend, and Son. _

He wasn't sure how long he'd sat there, could have been minutes or hours, before he said the one thought that sat in the back of his mind when he thought of Stiles.

"A happy ending was never in the cards for us, was it?"


	21. Alternate Ending: A Wedding

"Johnny, please…." Stiles grumbled as he tried for the umpteenth time to get this son to stand still. "You have to wear it."

"Don't wanna." The little boy tried to yank himself away.

"You cannot go butt naked to your grandfathers wedding." He could, but it would probably scandalize a lot of people. "You will wear the suit. It's uncomfortable and it sucks, I know, I have to wear one too."

"No." Oh, look, it's the pouty face.

"Don't look at me like that." Stiles pointed a finger in the boys face. "I perfected that look. It does not work on me. You might want to have Uncle Scott give you some lessons."

"Stiles," Derek's voice sounded from the doorway. "You're not dressed yet."

"Nice of you to notice." He was still in his pajamas. "I'm trying to dress your son."

"I will do that." Derek grabbed the toddlers suit from Stiles' hands. "Go get dressed before you're late for your fathers wedding."

"Good luck." He looked from Derek to their son, not knowing who would need it more.

* * *

Stiles and Derek both watched as their son came _strutting_ down the aisle with the ring bearer pillow held high like an offering to the gods. Stiles could hear his father chuckle when Johnny veered off course, and instead of coming to the grooms side, went straight for a heavily pregnant Allison instead. Ever since she'd popped the little boy had had a fascination with her growing stomach.

Scott walked Melissa down the aisle, handing her off to his father before taking his spot next to Allison on the bride's side. Surprisingly enough Johnny remained pretty passive throughout the ceremony as long as he could touch Allison's stomach or gabber quietly into Scott's ear. It was reception when he would cause trouble, Stiles knew that for fact.

Their son was a mischief causer and a flirt, just like his parents. He didn't spend one moment with Derek or Stiles throughout the entire reception. He kept himself with Melissa, Allison or Lydia the whole time, and they were more than happy to keep the toddler entertained.

"He's going to be trouble in high school." Stiles father warned as they ate their meal. Johnny was currently showing off his dance moves in between his three ladies. "Just like you both were."

"We were joys to be around in high school." Stiles feigned being hurt.

"Keep thinking that." His father shot back with a smile.

"This place looks great." Derek commented on the reception hall. "It was a beautiful wedding."

"It is nice." There weren't many places in Beacon Hills you could get to look sophisticated and fancy. "The ceremony was beautiful."

"When do you two plan to tie the knot again?" It was a question he knew his father had wanted to ask for a while. "I would like to be there this time."

"We thought we'd elope again." Stiles chuckled at the glare he received for that comment. "I don't know, Dad. There's a lot going on. You just got married. Scott and Allison are having a baby. We don't want to steal anyone's thunder."

"You know this wedding took a year to plan right?" Unfortunately, they did know that. They were way more involved in the planning then they wanted to be. "If you start planning now, then by the time you actually have the wedding, there won't be any thunder to steal."

"That is true."

He and Derek had been talking about getting married again. They considered themselves engaged, though they hadn't really told anybody that. It was something that was between them, that they hadn't been ready to share yet. When he looked over at Derek now he knew it was time.

"We were thinking next summer." Their last wedding had been in fall. "Somewhere indoors though, with air conditioning, so we don't all suffocate in our tuxes."

"I'm sure Scott and Allison would be more than happy to help with the planning." Scott was a wedding planning machine, it was nuts. "And, when can I expect more grandchildren?"

"Jesus Christ." Derek's face went white as a sheet, because, yeah, they could barely handle the single kid they have. "You want another one?"

"Not any time soon." Stiles said forcefully. "You got one from us already, and you're getting one out of Scott and Allison. That should hold you off for a while."

"It was a joke, boys. Calm down." His father was sadist. He gave boatloads of candy to their kid before he sent him home after babysitting. "The way you two act, you'd think parenting was hard or something. You have it easy, that boy is a sweet little angel."

"Not five minutes ago did you say that _sweet little angel_ was going to be trouble." Stiles jerked his head toward his son who was…asleep, with his head resting on Melissa's shoulder. "Aww."

"He's always cute when he sleeps." Derek reminded him. "It's when he wakes up…"

"Hey, if you want another baby in the family so bad," He had a brilliant idea. "Why don't you knock up Melissa?"

"Are you insane?" Oh it was his father's turn to go pale. "I – we can't…No."

"It's not so fun to be in the hot seat is it?" Derek smirked at the older man.

"You'll get more grandchildren, Pop." Stiles knew they'd end up giving him more eventually. "Not any time soon. Let's get that one off to school first and then Derek and I will get on the baby making train."

* * *

They didn't get home from the wedding until way after midnight. They'd driven Scott and Allison home before listening to their son cry softly in the backseat on the way to their own house. Stiles followed Derek up the stairs when they got home. Watching as he gently rocked their son to sleep and lay him down.

"Did I ever tell you how glad I am that you came home?" Stiles questioned while switching off the nursery light.

"A couple of times."

"Should I tell you a couple more?"

"No." Derek shook his head before pulling Stiles into his arms. "I think you should marry me. Again."

"I was planning on it." Did Derek miss the conversation with his dad?

"Not next summer." Then when? "Next month."

"We can't plan a wedding in a month." They'd just gone through wedding planning hell with his dad and Melissa wedding. He wasn't ready to go through that again.

"No planning." Oh. "Just me, you, the kid, and the Justice of the Peace."

"My dad will murder you. Then he'll murder me." His Dad wanted to see him get married at least once. "Then he and Melissa will raise our son."

"Your dad can come. Melissa too." Derek gave in. "Scott and Allison can be there if they want."

"No extravagance. No flowers. No balloons. No tuxes." Stiles was in heaven just thinking about it. "Screw next month, let's do it next week."

"Your dad and Melissa will still be on their honeymoon." True, they were spending three weeks in the Caribbean. "Next month."

"Next month." Stiles repeated. "Last time, though, okay?"

"I'm not letting you go again." Stiles was going to marry Derek next month. They weren't going to wait a year and plan something that didn't fit either of them. They wanted each other now and forever and they'd have it on their terms.

Stiles didn't plan to let Derek go again either. They'd worked too hard to get where they were. They'd lost enough time. Since Derek had come back from New York things had been great, in a way they'd never been before. They'd had their issues, sure, but they weren't life ruining issues anymore. For the first time in a long time Stiles could look at his life, at his son, at Derek, and realize, that it wasn't all going to be ripped away. Stiles could look at his life and know that he had a family who loved him and that they were his home.


End file.
